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ITEM  CHfiPR^D 
"t^N!^RVflTI0N  STHER 

'  CoftiMemorative  i-- 

of  the  First  church  of 
Christ  in  Hartford,  at 
its  two  hundred  and 
f i  f t  i  et  h  ann  i  versary . 
Bctober  11  and  12, 

ion-? 


hbl,stx  F       104.H3H28 

Commemorative  exercises  of  the  Fir 


3    T153    DD53TTSS    7 


o 

■I^- 


(» 


FIRST  CHURCH  OF  HARTFORD. 
Erected   1807. 


COMMEMORATIVE    EXERCISES 


OF   THE 


n 
First  Church  of  Christ 


IN 


HARTFORD, 


AT    ITS 


TWO    HUNDRED    AND    FIFTIETH    ANNIVERSARY, 


OCTOBER   11   AND    12,  1883. 


HARTFORD,  CONN.  : 

Press  of  The  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard  Company. 

1883. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB. 

Preliminary  Proceedings, 5 

Order  of  Exercises, lo 

Address  of  Welcome,  by  William  R.  Cone,  .  .  15 
Remarks   on    the    Early   Topography  of    Hartford, 

BY  John  C.  Parsons, 24 

Presentation  of  the  Portrait  of   Rev.  Joel  Hawes, 

BY  Edward  J.  Van  Lennep,  ....        32 

Historical  Address,  by  Rev.  George  Leon  Walker,  .  37 
Address  of  Rev.  Wolcott  Calkins,  .  .  •  .103 
Address  of  Rev.  George  H.  Gould,     .         .         .         .111 

Address  of  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton, 118 

Address  of  Rev.  Noah  Porter, 123 

Address  of  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,     .         .         .       125 
Address  of  Edward  B.  Hooker,    .         .         .         .         .131 
Women  Founders  of  New  England,  by  John  Hooker,       132 
The  Meeting-Houses  of    the  First  Church,  by  Row- 
land Swift, 135 

Reminiscences,  by  Rev.  Aaron  L.  Chapin,  .        .         .164 
The  Relation  of   the  Church  to  the  Civil  Govern- 
ment,   BY   PiNCKNEY   W.    ELLSWORTH,       .  .  -173 

Social  and  Domestic   Life  in    Early  Times,  by  Mrs. 

Lucius  Curtis, 193 

Correspondence, 207 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Present  Church,     .... 
Interior  of  Present  Church, 
Card  of  Invitation, 
The  Charter  Oak, 
Copy  of  Porter's  Map  of  Hartford  in  1640, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  George  L.  Walker, 
View  of  the  Old  Burying  Ground, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  Nathan  Strong, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  Joel  Hawes, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  Elias  H.  Richardson, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  Wolcott  Calkins, 
Portrait  of  Rev.  George  H.  Gould, 


PAGE. 

Frontispiece. 

7 

9 

19 

24 

37 
55 
83 
90 

97 

103 

III 


PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 


At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society 
of  Hartford,  January  12,  1883,  the  following  communication 
was  received  from  the  Pastor : 

Hartford,  January  11,  1883. 

Brothers  and  Friends  :  I  desire  to  bring  to  your  notice  at  this 
time  the  propriety  of  the  due  and  proper  commemoration  of  the  Two 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Church  with  which  this  Eccle- 
siastical Society  is  connected.  The  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford 
was  gathered  at  Newtown  (now  Cambridge),  Mass.,  on  or  before  Octo- 
ber, 1633. 

On  the  nth  of  that  month,  the  earliest  date  distinctly  ascertainable 
in  its  history  and  generally  taken  to  be  the  birthday  of  the  organization, 
its  first  Pastor  and  Teacher  were  inducted  into  their  respective  offices. 
Ten  months  more  will  complete  two  and  a  half  centuries  in  its  history. 
Such  an  event  deserves  commemoration.  .  .  .  It  is  customary  in 
our  New  England  Churches  to  provide  for  their  century  anniversaries 
by  a  joint  action  of  church  and  society.  Your  annual  meeting  preceding 
that  of  the  Church,  causes  me  earliest  to  address  you  on  a  matter  which, 
in  strict  order  of  propriety,  might  first  perhaps  have  been  brought  before 
the  Church.  But  I  am  pleasurably  aware  that  the  constituency  of 
Church  and  Society  are,  with  us,  to  a  great  degree  identical,  and  I  do 
not  suppose  there  can  be  the  least  diversity  of  opinion  between  the  two 
bodies  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  action  recommended. 

Should  this  matter  commend  itself  to  you  as  deserving  of  regard,  I 
suggest,  as  a  practical  method  of  dealing  with  it,  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  of  six  judiciously  selected  members  of  your  body  to  cooper- 
ate with  the  Pastor  and  with  a  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Church,  and  empowered  to  take  all  needful  measures  and  incur  all 
needful  expenses  in  planning  and  carrying  out  the  suitable  memorial 
observance  of  the  quarter-millennial  anniversary  of  the  organization  of 
the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford. 

I  am,  Brethren  and  Friends, 

Your  Minister  in  the  Gospel, 

Geo.  Leon  Walker. 

After  consideration  of  the  foregoing  communication  the 
Society 


"  Voted,  That  Calvin  Day,  William  W.  House,  John  C.  Parsons, 
Charles  A.  Jewell,  Robert  E.  Day,  and  Charles  T.  Welles  be  and  they 
hereby  are  appointed  a  committee  to  make  any  suitable  arrangement  for 
the  celebration  and  record  of  this  Anniversary." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in 
Hartford,  Feb.  6,  1883,  a  communication  from  the  Pastor 
similar  in  tenor  to  that  addressed  to  the  Society  was  read, 
recommending  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  brethren 
and  sisters  of  the  Church,  to  cooperate  with  the  committee 
of  the  Society  in  the  due  and  proper  celebration  of  the 
anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  Church.  Whereupon 
the  Church 

"  Voted  to  proceed  to  the  selection  of  the  Committee  as  advised." 

The  persons  designated  to  act  as  the  Committee  in  the 
Church's  behalf  were  these: 

William  R.  Cone,  William  Thompson, 

Bryan  E.  Hooker,  Rowland  Swift, 

Francis  B.  Cooley,  Solon  P.  Davis, 

Samuel  M.  Hotchkiss,  Henry  E.  Taintor, 

Henry  P.  Stearns,  Daniel  R.  Howe. 
Henry  Roberts, 

At  a  subsequent  period  of  time  the  joint  Committees 
appointed  by  the  Church  and  the  Society  organized  by  the 
choice  of  William  R.  Cone,  Chairman,  and  Charles  T.  Welles, 
Secretary,  and  designated  the  following  sub-committees  for 
the  distribution  and  accomplishment  of  the  work : 

Speakers  and  order  of  Exercises :    Invitation,  Correspondence,  and 

William  R.  Cone,  Printing: 

Calvin  Day,  William  Thompson, 

Henry  P.  Stearns,  Charles  T.  Welles, 

Francis  B.  Cooley,  Robert  E.  Day, 

Rowland  Swift.  Daniel  R.  Howe. 

Finance :  Entertain?iie7it  : 

William  W.  House,  John  C.  Parsons, 

John  C.  Parsons,  Bryan  E.  Hooker, 

Charles  A.  Jewell.  William  W.  House, 

Decorations :  Charles  A.  Jewell, 

Solon  P.  Davis,  Henry  E.  Taintor. 
Samuel  M.  Hotchkiss, 
Henry  Roberts. 


INTERIOR  OF  FIRST  CHURCH. 
October  11.    1883. 


The  ladies  appointed  by  the  Church  to  act  as  members  of 
the  Anniversary  Committee  were  as  follows : 

Mrs.  Henry  E.  Taintor,  Mrs.  John  Allen, 

Mrs.  PiNCKNEY  W.  Ellsworth,     Mrs.  Burr  R.  Abbe, 

Mrs.  Charles  A.  Jewell,  Mrs.  William  A.  Thompson, 

Mrs.  Edmund  G.  Howe,  Mrs.  Albert  H.  Pitkin, 

Mrs.  Francis  B.  Cooley,  Mrs.  John  M.  Holcombe, 

Mrs.  Rowland  Swift,  Miss  Caroline  D.  Bissell. 

They  met  and  appointed  the  following  sub-committees: 

Ento-tainvient :  Decoration  : 

Mrs.  Edmund  G.  Howe,  Mrs.  Francis  B.  Cooley, 

Mrs.  Henry  E.  Taintor,  Mrs.  Burr  R.  Abbe, 

Mrs.  John  Allen,  Mrs.  Pinckney  W,  Ellsworth, 

Mrs.  William  A.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Rowland  Swift, 

Mrs.  John  M.  Holcombe,  Mrs.  Albert  H.  Pitkin, 

Miss  Caroline  D.  Bissell.  Mrs.  Charles  A.  Jewell. 

These  committees  had  numerous  meetings  previous  to 
the  Celebration,  which  occurred  on  Thursday  and  Friday, 
October  nth  and  I2th,  1883,  and  diligently  attended  to  the 
duties  appointed  to  them.  Cards  of  invitation,  a  specimen 
of  which  will  be  found  in  this  volume,  were  sent  to  the 
settled  clergy  throughout  the  State,  to  all  non-resident 
and  past  members  of  the  Church  whose  address  could  be 
ascertained,  and  to  a  few  other  individuals  in  this  country 
and  in  England. 

The  Committee  on  Decoration  of  the  Church  was  spared 
any  endeavor  toward  its  ornamentation  by  the  fact  of  its 
new  and  very  handsome  painting  and  frescoing  under  the 
direction  of  the  Society's  Committee.  They  were  enabled, 
however,  to  secure  for  the  walls  of  the  lecture-room  a 
number  of  interesting  portraits  and  other  pictures,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  portraits  of  Rev.  Drs.  Strong, 
Hawes,  Gould,  and  Richardson ;  of  Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin, 
Gov.  Ellsworth,  Chief  Justice  Williams,  James  Hosmer,  and 
William  Hungerford;  as  well  as  paintings  of  the  Charter 
Oak,  by  C.  D.  W.  Brownell,  and  of  Hooker's  party  traversing 
the  wilderness,  by  F.  E.  Church.  There  were  also  photo- 
graphs of  the  Tilton  parish  Church  in   Leicestershire,  in 


8 

which  it  is  believed  Thomas  Hooker  was  baptized,  and  of 
the  churches  at  Chelmsford  and  Little  Baddow,  associated 
with  later  aspects  of  his  life  in  England.  A  beautiful  water- 
color  drawing  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Chelmsford  was  also 
loaned  for  the  occasion  by  Rev.  Francis  Goodwin.  The 
Bible  used  by  Thomas  Hooker,  and  which  has  come  down 
in  the  line  of  one  of  his  descendants,  was  read  from  in  the 
opening  services  of  Thursday  morning,  and  was  on  exhibition 
in  the  lecture-room  on  Friday.  In  the  Church  audience- 
room  two  tablets,  one  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit-window, 
had  inscribed  upon  them  the  names  of  the  Pastors  of  the 
Church  and  the  duration  of  their  official  services.  Tablets 
wrought  in  iimnortellcs  with  the  dates  1633  and  1883,  respect- 
ively, were  placed  on  the  columns  on  either  side  the  pulpit- 
recess,  while  one  bearing  the  inscription  "250"  was  placed 
immediately  in  front  of  the  pulpit.  A  large  map  of  Hartford 
in  1640,  drawn  by  Solon  P.  Davis  and  suspended  back  of  the 
speaker's  desk,  gave  definiteness  to  the  references  of  the 
early  topography  of  the  town.  Beautiful  plants  were  taste- 
fully arranged  on  the  sides  of  the  platform  and  on  the  stairs 
leading  to  it. 

A  very  interesting  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the  use,  for 
the  first  time,  of  the  grand  and  melodious  organ  presented  to 
the  Church  as  a  memorial  offering  by  Mrs.  Leonard  Church. 

The  beautiful  memorial  window,  given  by  Julius  Catlin,  was 
also  seen  for  the  first  time  by  most  of  those  who  attended 
the  services  of  the  celebration. 

The  grave  of  Thomas  Hooker,  in  the  old  burying  ground 
behind  the  Church,  was  adorned  with  flowers  presented  by 
several  of  his  lineal  posterity. 

The  collation  on  Friday,  between  the  services  of  morning 
and  afternoon,  proved  a  very  successful  occasion  for  the 
meeting  of  long-separated  friends  and  the  renewal  of  old 
associations. 

Nothing  occurred  throughout  the  exercises  of  the  two  days 
to  mar  the  felicity  of  the  proceedings.  These  proceedings 
were  fully  reported  in  the  Courant  of  October  12th  and  13th, 


M'/.'J. 


/'W.'i 


'J 


COMMUNION    CUP  OF  1727. 


^f^/^l- 


^  /  ,      ,  ^^'   .  /  /  /  /     / 

^0    ■       ■  /  //"^ 


but  the  General  Committee  on  the  celebration,  at  a  meeting 
held  the  15  th  of  October,  deeming  the  event  deserving  of 
permanent  record,  authorized  and  directed  a  sub-committee, 
consisting  of  the  following  named  persons,  to  prepare  and 
publish  a  memorial  of  the  transactions  of  the  anniversary 
suited  to  a  place  in  the  library  of  those  concerned  or  inter- 
ested in  it : 

William  Thompson,  Daniel  R.  Howe, 

Charles  T.  Welles,  George  Leon  Walker, 

Robert  E.  Day, 

It  is  in  fulfillment  of  this  direction  that  the  following  pages 
have  been  compiled. 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 


Thursday  Morning. 
I.     Organ  Prelude.  Handel. 

II.       DOXOLOGY. 

III.  Reading  of  Scripture.     Psalm  Ixxxix  :  1-18. 

IV.  Prayer, 

V.     Anthem.     One  Hundredth  Psalm.  Tours. 

VI.     Address  of  Welcome.     William  R.  Cone. 
VII.     Psalm  cxxxvi.  Tate  and  Brady. 

Tune,  Lenox. 
To  God  the  mighty  Lord, 

Your  joyful  Thanks  repeat : 
To  Him  due  Praise  afford, 
As  good  as  He  is  great. 
For  God  does  prove 
Our  constant  Friend, 
His  boundless  Love 
Shall  never  end. 

2.  Thro'  Desarts  vast  and  wild 

He  led  the  chosen  Seed ; 
And  famous  Princes  foil'd, 
And  made  great  Monarchs  bleed. 
For  God,  etc. 

3.  Sihon,  whose  potent  Hand 

Great  Ammon's  Sceptre  sway'd ; 
And  Og,  whose  stern  Command 
Rich  Bashan's  Land  obey'd. 
1  For  God,  etc. 

4.  And  of  His  wond'rous  Grace 

Their  Lands,  whom  He  destroy'd, 
He  gave  to  Isr'els  Race, 
To  be  by  them  enjoy'd. 
For  God,  etc. 


II 

5-     He  does  the  Food  supply, 

On  which  all  Creatures  live  : 
To  God  who  reigns  on  high 
Eternal  Praises  give. 
For  God  will  prove 
Our  constant  Friend, 
His  boundless  love 
Shall  never  end. 

VIII.     Early  Topography  of  Hartford.     John  C.  Parsons. 

[Illustrated  by  a  copy  of  Porter's  Map  of  Hartford  in  1640,  prepared 
by  Solon  P.  Davis.] 

IX.  Hymn  1060.  "O  God,  beneath  Thy  guiding  hand." 
Tune,  Bond. 

Thursday  Afternoon. 

I.     Psalm  Ixxviii.  Tate  and  Brady. 

Tune,  Archdale.  . 
Hear,  O  my  People,  to  my  Law, 

devout  Attention  lend ; 
Let  the  Instruction  of  my  Mouth 

deep  in  your  Hearts  descend. 
My  Tongue,  by  Inspiration  taught, 

shall  Parables  unfold. 
Dark  Oracles,  but  understood, 

and  owned  for  Truths  of  old ; 

2  Which  we  from  sacred  Registers 

of  antient  Times  have  known, 
And  our  Forefathers  pious  Care 

to  us  has  handed  down. 
We  will  not  hide  them  from  our  Sons  ; 

our  Offspring  shall  be  taught 
The  Praises  of  the  Lord,  whose  Strength 

has  Works  of  Wonder  wrought. 

3  That  Generations  yet  to  come 

should  to  their  unknown  Heirs 
Religiously  transmit  the  same, 

and  they  again  to  theirs. 
To  teach  them  that  in  God  alone 

their  hope  securely  stands, 
That  they  should  ne'er  His  Works  forget, 

but  keep  his  just  Commands. 

II.     Historical  Address.     Rev.  George  Leon  Walker,  D.D. 

III.  Hymn  820.     "Let  saints  below  in  concert  sing." 

Tune,  St.  Anns. 

IV.  Closing  Voluntary.  Bach, 


12 

Thursday  Evening. 

I.  Organ  Voluntary.  Mendelssohn. 

II.  Gloria  in  Excelsis.  Pease. 

III.  Addresses  by  former  Pastors. 

IV.  Music.     "  The  Lord  is  mindful  of  His  Own." 

Mendelssohn. 
V.     Addresses  by  Invited  Guests. 
VI.     Hymn  1014.     "  Christ  is  coming  !     Let  creation  " — 

Verdussen. 

Friday  Morning. 

I.     Organ  Prelude  and  Chorus.  St.  Saens. 

II.     Prayer. 

III.  The  Meeting-houses  of  the  First  Church.     Rowland 

Swift. 

IV.  Reminiscences.     Rev.  Aaron  L.  Chapin,  D.D. 

V.     Hymn  757.     "  O  where  are  kings  and  empires  now." 

Friday  Afternoon. 

I.     Hymn  522.     "  Call  Jehovah  thy  salvation."  -^^ 

II.     Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Civil  Government. 
Pinckney  W.  Ellsworth. 

III.  Social  and   Domestic   Life    in    Early   Times. 

Mrs.  Lucius  Curtis. 

IV.  Hymn  824.     "  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds." 

Tune,  Dennis. 


Thursday   Morning. 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

BY    WILLIAM    R.    CONE. 

Throughout  the  German  empire  there  is  to  be  celebrated  on 
the  I  ith  of  the  next  month,  November,  the  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Martin  Luthef,  a  poor  miner's  son,  born  in  a  Saxon 
village  four  hundred  years  ago.  The  event  is  deemed  of  such 
importance,  that  the  Emperor  William  of  Germany,  has  issued 
his  proclamation  designating  the  loth  and  nth  days  of  Novem- 
ber as  "Luther  days,"  to  be  observed  throughout  his  king- 
dom of  Prussia.  In  this  proclamation  the  emperor  says : 
"  I  pray  that  God  may  listen  to  the  supplications  in  v^hich  I 
and  all  evangelical  Christians  unite,  that  this  celebration  be 
productive  of  lasting  benefit  to  our  Evangelical  Church." 
This  is  a  prayer  which  we  may  most  appropriately  adopt 
upon  this  occasion. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1633,  an  event  occurred  upon 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  hardly  less  significant  and  import- 
ant, and  which  in  its  consequence  to  religion  and  civilization 
has  few  parallels  in  history.  On  that  day  there  landed  from 
a  vessel,  the  Griffin,  at  the  port  of  Boston,  a  few  miles  away 
from  the  little  hamlet  of  Newtown,  now  Cambridge,  Mass., 
a  company  of  exiled  Puritan  pilgrims,  seeking  a  home  in 
this  western  world.  Among  them  were  two  remarkable 
men,  Thomas  Hooker,  who  became  the  first  pastor  of  this 
Church,  and  John  Haynes,  who  became  the  first  governor  of 
this  State.  They  met  upon  the  shore  a  small  band  of  relig- 
ious men  and  women,  who  had  preceded  them,  and  there,  by 
the  sea,  awaited  their  coming.  Hooker  had,  prior  to  their 
departure  from  England,  ministered  to  a  considerable  portion 
of  this  handful  of  emigrants,  and  as  he  landed,  they  met  him 
with  open  arms  and  glad  hearts,  and  welcomed  him,  as  I  do 


i6 

you  to-day,  with  most  hearty  greetings.  And  as  he  came 
within  their  welcome  embrace,  he  assured  them  with  equal 
earnestness  of  his  Christian  regard,  affection,  and  interest, 
and  said  to  his  old  flock,  "  Now  I  live  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the 
Lord."  This  meeting  and  Christian  greeting  carried  with  it 
such  evidence  of  their  trust  and  fidelity  to  their  Lord,  that 
on  the  nth  day  of  the  next  month,  October,  they  fully 
organized  this  first  Church  of  Christ,  and  Mr.  Hooker  was 
installed  as  their  Christian  leader.  This  organization  has 
never  been  interrupted.  It  is  the  same  church  which  com- 
menced its  work  on  the  nth  of  October,  1633,  and  which  in 
its  Christian  work  since,  and  in  its  influence  upon  civilization 
and  all  that  contributes  to  national  wealth  and  prosperity, 
and  the  advancement  and  happiness  of  the  human  race,  will 
continue  to  work  on  to  the  end  of  time.  A  quarter  of  a 
thousand  years  since  the  happening  of  this  event,  so  appar- 
ently small  and  insignificant  in  itself,  has  passed;  but  it 
involved  great  trusts,  the  planting  here  of  this  Christian 
church,  which  contained  the  germs  of  our  nation's  greatness 
and  power  ;  and  though  the  actors  in  this  organization  of 
the  nth  of  October,  1633,  have  ceased  their  work,  and  many 
generations  have  swept  over  their  memories  and  their  graves, 
and  most  of  them  are  forgotten,  and  even  the  names  of  many 
of  them  are  no  longer  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  this  wide 
land ;  yet  their  work  will  never  stop.  The  faithful  services 
they  did  here,  in  planting  this  Church  and  founding  this  State, 
will  never  die.  The  church  is  the  same,  though  other  hands 
have  taken  it  up  and  will  carry  it  on  through  all  time.  The 
results  of  these  labors  are  spread  over  this  whole  continent, 
are  felt  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  this  assembly  is 
here  by  invitation  to  celebrate  the  250th  anniversary  of  this 
event,  look  upon  the  work,  judge  of  the  results,  and  trace 
the  steps  in  the  progress  of  its  accomplishment. 

I  have  somewhere  seen  a  picture,  executed  by  a  skillful 
master,  which  brought  out  in  wonderful  vividness  the  history 
and  events  of  a  life.  It  was  the  picture  of  a  very  old  man, 
calling  up  to  himself  the  record  of  his  life.     He  stood,  a  very 


17 

patriarch,  with  flowing  locks  and  the  snow  of  many  winters 
upon  his  head — looking  off,  and  viewing,  at  a  great  distance 
in  the  landscape,  the  house  in  which  he  was  born,  the 
fields  of  his  early  sports,  where  he  passed  his  youth  and  his 
school  days.  He  held  in  his  hand  a  portrait  of  himself,  just 
as  he  was  passing  from  boyhood,  with  a  face  radiant  with 
hope,  every  Imeament  marked  with  self-reliance  and  high 
resolve.  Spread  out  before  him  was  a  wide  landscape  extend- 
ing over  land  and  water,  the  great  field  of  his  labor  and  his  life. 
Upon  a  roll  at  his  feet  was  inscribed  the  names  of  his  chil- 
dren. Standing  there,  with  the  scenes  of  every  stage  of  his 
life  spread  out  before  him,  he  was  trying  to  discern,  in  the 
portrait  of  his  boyhood,  some  resemblance  of  himself  as 
reflected  in  a  mirror.  He  seemed  to  be  calling  up  to  his 
memory  the  history  of  his  life,  its  trials,  its  discouragements, 
disappointments,  and  vicissitudes,  its  successes,  triumphs,  and 
victories.  The  events  and  results  of  a  whole  lifetime  were 
before  him,  as  was  the  path  he  had  traveled  all  the  way  from 
the  little  old  home  where  he  was  born  to  the  place  where  he 
was  standmg.  The  picture  was  wonderfully  suggestive. 
Something  like  it  we  are  here  to  witness  to-day. 

This  venerable  church,  represented  by  the  descendants 
and  successors  of  its  early  members,  stands  here  looking 
down  through  the  vista  and  mist  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  and  sees  in  the  dim  distance  the  early  and  unpretend- 
ing home  by  the  sea,  in  which  it  had  its  birth,  and  from 
which  their  way  through  a  trackless  wilderness  led  them, 
just  as  it  was  taking  upon  itself  the  strength  and  vigor  of 
its  early  manhood,  to  this,  then  as  now,  fertile  and  beauti- 
ful valley  of  the  Connecticut.  And  now,  as  the  representa- 
tives and  embodiment  of  this  First  Church  of  Christ,  we 
are  here,  trying  to  discern  what  there  is  of  resemblance  to 
the  portrait  which  you  will  have  presented  to  you  of  its  early 
existence — and  if  the  picture,  with  its  groupings  and  erjviron- 
ments,  is  well  drawn  and  distinctly  presented,  as  it  will  be, — 
for  it  is  to  be  done  by  a  skillful  master, — the  history  and 
events  of  this  church,  its  trials,  vicissitudes,  disappointments, 
3 


i8 

and  its  successes  and  triumphs  as  well,  will  be  seen  to  have 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  world  at  large,  the  civil 
community  here  and  everywhere,  as  no  other  like  event  has 
ever  done. 

Early  in  June,  1636,  the  party,  constituting  this  first  Church 
of  Christ,  commenced  their  wearisome,  and  perilous  jour- 
ney from  the  sea,  through  the  dark  and  trackless  forest 
to  this,  their  future  home  of  toil,  privation,  and  suffering. 
Who  can  adequately  describe  the  discouragements  of  that 
journey  ?  About  the  15th  of  June,  after  two  weeks  of  march- 
ing through  the  tangled  jungles  of  the  forest,  this  party  of 
about  100  men,  women,  and  little  children,  led  by  Hooker, 
stood  upon  the  banks  of  this  river,  and  through  the  openings 
made  by  the  repeated  fires,  which  the  Indians  for  centuries 
had  annually  started  to  preserve  the  clearings  upon  which 
they  planted  their  corn,  and  cultivated  their  scanty  crops — 
saw  '■'Centinel"  hill,  and  the  rising  ground  which  became 
" Meeting-house  Yard"  and  the  elevations  west  and  south  of 
the  city  and  further  from  the  river,  upon  which  the  capitoi, 
the  asylum,  and  the  colleges  now  stand.  Beyond  these 
openings,  there  extended  back  from  the  river  on  every  side, 
the  dark,  impenetrable  forest,  of  giant  oak,  chestnut,  and 
other  forest  trees,  the  growth  of  centuries,  inhabited  by  wild 
and  ferocious  beasts,  and  peopled  by  wild  and  more  savage 
Indians,  whose  wigwams  were  seen  upon  the  outskirts  of 
these  openings,  frightful  in  their  war  paint,  clothed  in  skins, 
or  a  coarse  and  filthy  blanket,  decked  with  feathers,  armed 
with  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife,  and  whose  war  whoop 
and  treachery  had  become  the  terror  of  all  the  white  inhabit- 
ants of  the  land. 

Why  were  not  these  men  and  women  disheartened  at 
the  prospect  of  life  before  them  .-'  The  object  and  purpose 
that  brought  them  here,  made  them  courageous  and  stout- 
hearted. Hooker  and  his  party  had  an  errand  in  this 
wilderness,  a  work  to  accomplish.  It  was  the  planting 
here  of  "  a  Church  without  a  Bishop ;  and  the  founding  a 
State  without  a  King."     The  principles  of  religion  and  civil 


pi 


'jf^  i  - 


19 

liberty,  which  they  brought  with  them,  were  safe  in  their 
keeping,  and  soon  formulated  in  the  first  written  constitu- 
tion which  ever  had  existence  (the  constitution  of  1639), 
the  work  of  Hooker,  Haynes,  and  Ludlow,  and  in  which 
Governor  George  Wyllys  had  some  part ;  a  constitution 
which  recognized  the  people  as  the  sovereigns,  from  whom 
alone  emanated  all  power ;  and  never  has  Connecticut  recog- 
nized any  man  as  its  governor  whose  authority  was  derived 
from  the  king  ;  a  constitution  which  in  its  essential  features 
always  has  been,  and  still  is  the  constitution  of  this  State. 
There  was,  in  this  company  of  plodding  pilgrims,  another 
personage,  William  Gibbon*,  whose  name  is  forever  linked  in 
history  with  the  preservation  of  that  immemorial  tree  in  which 
the  chartered  liberties,  contained  in  that  first  constitution, 
were  hidden  and  preserved ;  when  the  king  sought  to  wrest 
from  the  people  their  liberties,  and  bring  tJiem  under  his 
authority.  He  too,  had  an  errand  in  this  wilderness.  He 
was  the  steward  of  George  Wyllys,  the  third  governor  of 
Connecticut,  sent  forward  to  purchase  and  prepare  a  place  fit 
for  his  reception.  Charter  Oak  hill  was  selected  as  the  place. 
And,  as  he,  with  his  men,  was  making  the  clearing  and  felling 
the  trees,  there  came,  upon  one  of  those  warm,  balmy  days  in 
early  summer,  a  deputation  of  Indians,  to  remonstrate  and  pro- 
test against  the  cutting  down  of  a  venerable  oak  which  stood 
upon  this  hill.  They  pleaded,  in  behalf  of  this  immemorial 
tree,  that  the  woodman  would  spare  it.  "  It  has  been  the 
guide  of  our  ancestors  for  centuries,"  said  they,  "  as  to  the 
time  of  planting  our  corn  ;  when  its  leaves  are  the  size  of  a 
mouse's  ear,  then  it  is  time  to  put  the  seed  in  the  ground." 
At  their  entreaty  the  tree  was  permitted  to  stand,  and  for 
two   hundred   and  twenty  years    continued  to  indicate  the 

*  William  Gibbon  of  Hartford  upon  Connecticut,  Yeoman,  died  in  1655.  By 
his  last  will  he  devised  about  thirty  acres  of  meadow  and  upland  in  Penywise,  in 
the  town  of  Wethersfield,  "towards  the  mayntenance  of  a  lattin  schoole  in 
Hartford."  This  was  probably  the  first  legacy  for  educational  purposes  in 
Connecticut.  Under  a  town  vote  passed  Jan.  8,  1756,  this  land  was  let  out  on 
a  long  lease  for  a  gross  rent,  but  the  fee  is  still  in  the  trustees  of  the  Hartford 
Grammar  school. —  Vide  notc-,/>.  31,  Vol.  iv,  of  t tie  printed  Colonial  Records. 


20 

time  when  the  earth  was  prepared  for  the  seed  corn. 
And  I  well  remember,  and  others  in  this  assembly  will 
remember  the  solemn  tolling,  tolling,  of  this  church  bell,  on 
the  2 1  St  day  of  August,  1856,  when  it  was  announced  that 
this  vast  legendary  tree,  the  Charter  Oak,  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  planting  of  this  Church  and  founding 
of  this  State,  had  fallen.  This  was  indeed  the  planting 
season,  the  propitious  time  for  the  seed  to  germinate 
here.  Thus  this  church  was  planted,  this  State  was  founded, 
Hartford  was  peopled,  and  this  old  oak  saved,  that  the 
charter  of  its  liberties  might  be  preserved. 

"God  sifted  a  whole  nation,"  said  Stoughton,  "that  he 
might  send  choice  grain  over  into  this  wilderness."  The 
choicest  of  the  seed  was  planted  here  upon  Hartford  soil, 
it  took  deep  root,  and  its  fruits  are  ripening  in  every  State 
upon  this  continent*  Though  sown  and  nurtured  by  these 
pioneers  in  sorrow  and  tears,  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  the  ripening  harvest  is  now  being  reaped  in  joy 
and  triumph. 

*DeTocqueville,  the  French  Historian,  a  great  friend  of  America,  was  once 
invited  by  some  of  our  countrymen  in  Paris  to  a  4th  of  July  dinner.  Called 
upon  for  a  speech  towards  the  close,  he  promptly  responded,  and  narrated 
how  in  the  course  of  his  tour  through  the  United  States,  he  at  length  reached 
Washington.  Congress  was  in  session,  so  of  course,  he  hastened  to  the  Capitol 
and  found  himself,  presently,  eagerly  listening  to  the  various  speakers  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  and  House.  One  after  another  arose  and  harangued  the 
audience,  riveting  his  attention  in  several  instances  by  their  irresistible  eloquence, 
fertility  of  resource,  forcible  argument,  or  sterling  comvion  sense.  "Who  is  that 
last  speaker?"  DeTocqueville  would  exclaim  to  one  who  sat  beside  him. 
"Oh!  that  is  the  member  from  Kentucky,  but  he  belonged  originally  in  Connec- 
ticut!'^ Again,  "  Who  is  the  able  man  now  speaking  ?"  "That  is  the  member 
from  Missouri,  but  he  was  originally  from  Connecticut."  "And  that  other  one 
to  whom  all  listened  so  breathlessly  ? "  "  He  is  the  member  from  Illinois,  but 
Connecticut  was  also  his  native  State,"  and  so  on,  till  the  vivacious  Frenchman 
became  impatient  to  consult  his  map,  saying  to  himself,  "Dis  Konnecticoot  must 
be  a  very  fine  State  !  "  He  went  home  and  searched  the  map  and  found  that 
"it  was  only  von  leetle yellow  spot !'''  He  went  on  to  relate,  how  afterwards  he 
went  to  see  for  himself  that  same  spot,  and,  when  he  inspected  its  schools  and 
colleges,  saw  its  busy  trade,  successful  industries,  and  the  variety  of  its  manufac- 
tures, he  was  led  to  exclaim,  "  as  I  now  do  to  you.  Gentlemen,"  finally,  "  dat  leetle 
State  you  call  Konnecticoot  is  von  great  miracle  to  me  " !  1 ! 


21 

We,  of  this  generation,  enjoying  the  comforts  and  hixuries 
of  our  day,  in  the  use  and  employment  of  the  various  inven- 
tions in  labor-saving  machinery,  and  all  the  modern  appli- 
ances of  our  civilization,  cannot  roll  back  the  tide  of  time  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  picture  the  scenes  and  events 
connected  with  this  toilsome  journey,  and  the  hardships  and 
privations  of  their  home  life  here.  The  contrast,  with  our 
times  and  experience,  is  too  great  for  realization.  If  we  try, 
we  look  in  vain  for  any  external  features  in  the  portrait  of  its 
early  times  and  young  life,  with  this  old  patriarchal  church. 
More  than  two  centuries  have  passed  since  the  youngest  of 
the  company,  who  met  Hooker  on  the  4th  of  September,  1633, 
and  who  accompanied  him  here,  was  carried  to  his  grave  on 
men's  shoulders.  No  recognizable  vestige  of  the  place, 
where  they  lived  and  labored  for  us  and  for  posterity,  now 
exists,  except  these  imperishable  hills,  the  soil  upon  which 
they  trod,  and  the  scattered  fragments,  to  be  found,  here  and 
there,  of  that  memorable  oak,  the  last  of  its  kind,  saved  from 
the  axe  of  the  woodman,  in  that  early  summer  time,  when 
this  church  was  being  planted  and  this  State  was  being 
founded,  and  in  which  its  charter  was  hidden  and  preserved. 
The  savage  population  are  extinct, — the  howl  of  the  wolf  is 
no  longer  heard, — the  forest  of  oak,  elm,  hemlock,  and  beach 
have  disappeared  in  the  progress  of  civilization — the  paths 
they  trod  and  the  ways  they  traveled,  as  shown  upon  the  map, 
are  obliterated.  The  houses  they  built  and  occupied  have 
gone  to  decay ;  the  graves  of  many  of  them  are  removed ; 
their  house  of  worship  has  long  since  disappeared,  and  its 
precise  site  is  not  certainly  known.  There  is  no  feature  or 
lineament  in  the  portrait  of  the  young  church  remaining  and 
recognizable  now,  except,  ah,  except  the  principles  upon 
which  it  was  founded,  and  which  its  early  members  exempli- 
fied in  their  daily  life,  and  left  as  a  precious  legacy  to  all  the 
future  inhabitants  of  this  land.  These,  time  has  neither 
faded  or  weakened;  they  live  and  flourish,  and  will  live  for- 
ever, and  from  them  this  church  has  never  swerved,  and  the 
originators  and  founders  should  be  honored,  and  held  in  per- 


22 

petual,  grateful,  and  everlasting  remembrance.  We  are  here, 
my  friends,  to  give  expression  to  our  veneration. 

What  changes  between  that  day  and  this  !  Should  these 
men  who  constituted  this  first  church  of  Christ  in  Hart- 
ford, Hooker,  Stone,  Haynes,  Wyllys,  and  the  others, 
now  enter  the  doors  of  this  church,  advance  along  these 
aisles,  and  give  to  you  this  address  of  welcome,  what 
would  be  their  surprise  and  amazement  as  they  looked  upon 
this  beautiful,  prosperous,  and  busy  city ;  and  then  off  upon 
this  great,  opulent,  and  powerful  country, — as  they  listened  to 
the  peals  of  this  organ  ;  heard  in  the  instrument's  click  a 
message  from  the  remotest  part  of  the  globe,  as  it  comes  over 
the  telegraph  wire ;  and  recognized  the  voice  of  friends,  sepa- 
rated from  them  by  an  hundred  miles,  as  heard  in  the  tele- 
phone— and  realized  what  wonderful  discoveries  and  inven- 
tions had  been  made,  and  how  all  the  elements  had  been 
brought  to  contribute  to  the  uses  and  happiness  of  their 
posterity.  In  view  of  all  this  wonderful  change,  would  they 
not  exclaim  in  the  language  of  the  first  message  ever  sent 
over  the  telegraph  wire,  and  sent  too  by  a  member  who 
worshiped  in  this  church  of  their  founding,  "What  hath  God 
wrought .'' " 

In  my  fancy  to-day,  I  see  this  church  peopled  with  another 
congregation,  a  congregation  of  a  past  generation,  as  I  saw 
it  in  1826,  nearly  sixty  years  ago.  I  seem  to  hear  from  the 
mahogany  pulpit,  perched  high  against  the  wall  at  this  end 
of  the  church,  from  which  he  delivered  his  message,  the  voice 
of  the  young  pastor  Joel  Hawes,  as  he  proclaimed  the  mes- 
sage, with  the  earnestness  and  fervor  which  characterized 
his  early  preaching, — see  good  Deacons  Chapin  and  Colton 
as  they  passed  up  and  down  these  aisles,  in  the  distribution 
of  the  bread  and  the  wine ;  and  as  my  eye  passes  from  one 
square,  high-backed  pew,  ranged  along  the  wall  sides  of  this 
church  to  another,  and  from  one  slip  in  these  aisles  to 
another,  I  see  the  venerable  men  who  worshiped  here, 
dressed  in  the  costume  of  that  day,  in  short  clothes,  white- 
topped    boots,    with    powdered    heads,    and   a   queue   down 


23 

the  back,  and  some  with  a  three-cornered  hat; — matronly 
women,  with  their  sons  and  daughters,  the  younger  members 
of  the  family,  as  they  enter  and  are  seated  for  their  Sunday 
worship ;  men  and  women  who  impressed  me  with  their 
dignity,  and  commanded  my  veneration,  and  whose  saintly 
lives  furnished  daily  evidence  of  their  fidelity  to  the  church, 
and  their  consistency  as  devoted  Christian  men  and  women. 
These  fathers  and  mothers,  where  are  they  ?  Some  of  their 
sons  and  daughters  are  still  in  life,  scattered  here  and  there 
upon  the  earth — most  have  gone  up  higher,  to  the  "  house  not 
made  with  hands  " — some  few  are  here  to-day  ;  but  I  seem  to 
see,  and  recognize  them  all,  as  now  here  assembled  in  this 
house  in  which  they  delighted  to  worship,  charging  you  and 
this  generation  with  greater  fidelity  to  this  old  church  which 
they  loved,  and  from  which  many  of  them  were  buried. 

Standing  here  and  speaking  in  their  name  and  stead,  and 
in  the  name  and  behalf  of  this  First  Church  of  Christ  to 
this  assembly,  I  would  say,  as  Hooker  did  to  his  followers 
when  he  met  them  on  the  4th  of  September,  1633,  by  the 
sea,  and  embraced  them  after  their  brief  three  years'  separa- 
tion :  "  Now  I  live  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord."  Yes,  this 
venerable  church,  whose  teachings  have  come  down  through 
these  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  still  lives,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  live  if  you  and  its  future  members  stand  fast  in 
the  Lord.  Thus,  friends,  we  greet  and  welcome  you  all 
here  to-day,  and  may  God  bless  and  prosper  this  old  church 
in  the  future  as  He  ever  has  done  in  the  past.  We  have 
invited  you  to  this  festival,  and  we  give  you  all  a  cordial  and 
hearty  welcome  to-day. 


REMARKS  ON  THE  EARLY  TOPOGRAPHY  OF 
HARTFORD. 

BY   JOHN    CALDWELL    PARSONS. 

One  object  of  this  commemoration  is  to  obtain  for  our- 
selves, if  possible,  and  to  perpetuate,  some  more  accurate 
impressions  of  the  founders  of  this  church  and  town  ;  to 
realize,  as  exactly  as  we  can,  what  manner  of  men  and 
women  they  were ;  to  give  due  honor  to  their  memories, 
and  to  gain  some  lessons  from  their  example  ;  and  to  do 
this  by  studying,  not  only  their  main  impulses  and  guiding 
principles,  but  also  their  daily  and  outward  lives,  their  hard- 
ships, recreations,  and  temptations,  and  their  physical  sur- 
roundings. It  is  of  these  last  that  I  am  to  say  a  few  words. 
They  will  be  very  brief,  for  the  material  is  scanty.  As 
one  good  photograph  of  Richard  Lord  and  his  eight  children, 
in  the  living  room  of  their  house,  would  inform  us  better  of 
their  domestic  life  than  a  volume  of  essays,  based  on  ancient 
inventories  and  casual  hints ;  so  a  picture  of  Hartford,  or 
an  accurate  map  of  the  town  in  1637,  would  instruct  us  more 
in  matters  of  local  and  territorial  life  than  a  library  of  acute 
conjecture.     But  we  have  no  such  data. 

One  of  the  early  votes  of  the  town  reads  :  "  It  is  ordered 
that  whosoever  borrows  the  town  chain  shall  pay  twopence  a 
day  for  every  day  they  keep  the  same,  and  pay  for  mending 
it,  if  it  be  broken  in  their  use."  This  is  the  first  and  only 
record  of  any  surveyor's  instrument.  Doubtless  there  must 
have  soon  come  some  large,  if  rude,  compass,  and  perhaps 
some  other  apparatus  for  triangulation.*    But  of  such  we  know 

*  Pocket  compasses  must  have  been  common  with  the  first  settlers,  and 
maritime  compasses  were  accessible.  Reference  is  here  made  only  to  the  sur- 
veyor's compass. 


Ilulrkm,,,,  L.„ul 


25 

nothing.  This  poor  town  chain,  its  bent  and  broken  links 
mended  from  time  to  time  by  the  town  blacksmith,  according 
to  his  best  judgment,  served  to  lay  out  the  two-acre  home- 
steads, the  quarter-acre  lots  of  Soldiers'  Field,  and  the  half- 
acre  house  lots  of  the  later  and  less  important  immigrants. 
No  skillful  engineering  was  required.  The  highways  con- 
formed to  the  courses  of  the  streams,  and  the  elevations  or 
ridges  of  ground  ;  and  if  there  was  a  right  angle  on  any  lot, 
or  at  any  street  intersection,  then,  as  ever  since,  it  was  by 
accident. 

Among  all  the  ancient  furniture  from  garrets  and  sheds 
that  has  lately  reappeared  in  our  parlors  and  halls,  and  which 
fond  tradition,  growing  more  and  more  positive  day  by  day, 
ascribes  to  the  Skinners,  or  Pratts,  or  Talcotts — among  all 
these  battered  warming-pans  and  foot-stoves  and  spinning- 
wheels  and  rickety  tables — I  have  yet  to  hear  of  a  level,  or 
compass,  or  other  instrument  of  early  date,  intended  for  sur- 
veyor's use.  But  whatever  implements  of  this  sort  the  first 
settlers  possessed,  they  preserved  no  results  of  their  work  in 
the  form  of  maps  or  drawings.  There  is  not  extant,  so  far 
as  T  can  learn,  a  map  of  the  town  made  before  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  nor  is  there  in  existence  an  authentic  picture  or 
sketch  of  the  town,  or  any  part  of  it,  or  of  any  building, 
public  or  private,  in  the  early  days  ;  nor  of  word-painting  or 
description  of  any  kind,  is  there  much  to  guide  in  any  attempt 
to  reproduce  the  actual  appearance  of  Hartford  in  1636. 

The  site  of  the  town,  both  meadow  and  upland,  had  been 
partially  cleared  and  cultivated  by  the  Indians  in  their  rude 
way,  and  we  can  easily  imagine  the  attractiveness  of  the  spot 
as  it  was  visited  by  the  first  explorers.  There  was  much 
variety  of  soil  and  exposure ;  abundant  water  supply  from 
springs,  brooks,  and  rivers  ;  forest  trees  of  every  kind,  and 
small  fruits,  shrubs,  and  aromatic  and  medicinal  plants  ;  a 
climate  far  less  trying  to  poorly-housed  settlers  than  that  of 
Massachusetts  Bay ;  a  wide,  navigable  river  of  pure  water, 
abounding  in  fish,  its  banks  bordered  by  fertile  meadows,  never 
requiring  enrichment  ;  and  a  smaller  stream,  not  even  in 
4 


26 

those  days  a  mountain  torrent  of  limpid  water,  but  swiftly 
flowing,  sometimes  through  rich  arable  and  pasture  land,  and 
again  cutting  through  the  main  ridge  of  the  future  settle- 
ment, leaving  sandstone  walls  thirty  or  forty  feet  high  oh 
either  side. 

It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the  natural  surface  of  the 
town  has  been  wholly  changed.  Hollows  have  been  filled, 
hills  have  been  reduced  in  grade,  lesser  elevations  have 
almost  disappeared,  minor  water  courses  and  springs  have 
ceased  to  exist  or  are  hidden  in  sewers.  "  Centinel  Hill," 
the  highest  elevation  of  Main  Street,  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  the  present  Fourth  Church,  was  at  least  ten  or  fifteen 
feet  higher  than  the  grade  of  to-day.  It  commanded  a  view 
of  the  north  part  of  the  town,  the  north  meadows,  and  the 
river,  and  of  the  whole  length  of  Main  Street.  The  neigh- 
bors supplied  themselves  with  earth  from  it  so  freely,  that, 
in  1660  the  town,  not  yet  prepared  to  relinquish  this  post  of 
observation  and  perhaps  of  defence,  voted  "  that  whosoever 
for  the  future  shall  dig  or  carry  earth  away  from  Sentinel  Hill 
shall  forfeit  two  shillings  a  load,  and  so  for  any  proportion, 
without  they  have  the  consent  of  Ensign  Talcott  and  John 
Allyn."  But  this  restraint  was  only  temporary,  and  the 
whole  crown  of  the  hill  has  been  removed.  Where  Asylum 
Street  now  runs,  from  Ann  -Street  to  the  railroad  crossing, 
lay  a  meadow  overflowed  by  every  moderate  rise  of  the  Little 
River.  The  heavy  soil  of  the  uplands  held  water  easily  in 
all  its  hollows  ;  and  little  ponds,  like  those  few  remaining  on 
Asylum,  Collins,  and  Edwards  Streets,  were  abundant. 
Children  have  skated  in  this  century  on  such  a  pond  between 
Main  and  Prospect  Streets. 

Large  water  courses  are  sometimes  permanent  boundaries, 
but  at  Hartford  the  rivers  too  have  changed.  When  the 
first  settlers  came,  the  Connecticut  River  ran  farther  to  the 
east,  and  a  pleasing  and  fertile  meadow  extended  from  Front 
Street,  easterly,  well  into  the  present  channel  of  the  river. 
The  Riveret,  as  Little  River  was  sometimes  called,  has  not 
changed  it  course   where  it  was  hemmed  in  by  rock  ;  but 


27 

throughout  Bushnell  Park  its  channel  has  varied  like  its  char- 
acter. It  was  in  early  days  an  attractive  stream.  The 
magnates  of  the  town,  Hooker,  Stone,  Goodwin,  Haynes. 
and  others,  chose  their  lots  on  Arch  Street,  facing  the  river 
road,  overlooking  the  current,  which  at  first  ran,  unvexed 
and  unpolluted,  to  the  Connecticut.  And  though  a  tannery 
was  already  in  operation  in  1640  on  what  is  now  the  park, 
opposite  the  Jewell  works,  and  a  mill  and  dam  were  built 
west  of  Ford  Street,  there  seem  to  have  been  no  groans  about 
mephitic  exhaltations  and  disgusting  smells  and  intolerable 
nuisances.  Then,  as  now.  the  inhabitants  along  its  banks 
highly  valued  their  water  privileges,  and  esteemed  their  loca- 
tion the  most  delightful  in  the  town.  And  even  when 
Thomas  Hooker,  the  pride  and  prop  of  church  and  town, 
died  of  fever  on  its  banks,  there  was  not  a  whisper  of 
"  malaria  "  throughout  the  colony. 

One  of  the  first  embarrassments  of  the  settlers  —  an 
embarrassment  that  has  long  remained  to  haunt  their  succes- 
sors— was  the  badness  of  the  roads.  As  a  general  rule  in 
new  settlements,  the  better  the  soil  the  poorer  the  roads. 
The  tenacious  clay  that  underlies  the  loam  in  Hartford  is  the 
most  intractable  of  all  material  for  road-building.  Those 
who  have  seen,  within  the  last  thirty  years,  wheels  sunk  to 
the  hub  in  the  native  clay  of  Pearl  Street,  within  two  hund- 
red yards  of  this  spot,  can  faintly  imagine  what  must  have 
been  the  condition  of  all  the  highways  of  the  town,  not  only 
in  1640,  but  for  long  years  afterward.*  And  it  is  easy  to 
sympathize  with  the  ardor  which,  150  years  ago,  fired  the 
people  of  this  church  in  fierce  and  long  dispute  about  a  new 


*In  May,  1774,  sundry  prisoners  for  debt  in  the  jail,  then  near  the  corner  of 
Pearl  and  Trumbull  Streets,  petition  the  General  Assembly  that  the  jail  limits 
may  be  enlarged  as  far  east  as  the  Court  House,  representing  that  they  "  labour 
under  many  Inconveniences,  hardships,  and  disadvantages,  which  are  uncommon 
to  prisoners  in  other  Gaols  in  this  Colony.  By  Reason  that  the  Gaol  is  in  so  retired 
and  back  part  of  the  Town,  so  seldom  frequented  by  any  Inhabitants  of  the 
Town;  all  the  Roads  which  lead  to  it  being  for  a  Considerable  part  of  the  Year 
miery  and  uncomfortable  to  walk  in,  by  which  Reason  the  People  who  would 
otherwise  be  very  Charitably  disposed  towards  the  Prisoners,  seldom  have  an 
opportunity  of  bestowing  their  Charities." 


28 

location  for  their  meeting-house,  when  we  remember  that 
every  additional  yard  of  distance  between  house  and  church 
meant  additional  weary  struggle  with  mud  and  mire.  About 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  some  attempt  was  made 
to  improve  the  condition  of  Main  street,  but  little  seems  to 
have  been  done  then,  or  for  fifty  years  afterwards,  except  to 
fill  the  worst  holes  and  quagmires  with  stone  from  Rocky 
Hill* 

There  is  a  credible  tradition  that,  not  far  from  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century,  the  late  Mrs.  Daniel  Wadsworth,  on  a 
Thanksgiving  day,  was  unable  to  cross  Main  street,  from 
her  home  near  the  City  Hotel  to  Col.  Wadsworth's  house  on 
the  Athenaeum  lot,  except  on  horseback.  How  the  first  set- 
tlers, in  bad  weather,  ever  traveled  the  road  to  Wethersfield, 
which  has  been  all  but  impassable  for  wheels  during  the  mem- 
ory of  many  here  present,  is  a  puzzle  and  a  wonder  to  us. 
Doubtless  the  courage  of  those  pioneers  was  high,  their  boots 
were  thick,  their  tastes  were  not  as  fastidious  and  delicate 
as  those  of  their  descendants.  Necessity  drove,  and  they 
moved  in  some  way.  But  speed  and  ease  of  travel  over  bad 
roads  was  an  impossibility.     All  the  discomforts  of  locomo- 

*  A  curious  petition,  signed  by  all  the  clergymen  of  the  town,  among  others, 
for  leave  to  raise  ;i^6,ooo  by  a  lottery,  for  the  repair  of  the  roads,  dated,  May  8, 
1760,  is  to  be  found  among  the  State  Documents  at  the  Capitol;  for  reference 
to  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  C.  J.  Hoadly,  State  Librarian. 
It  represents  "  that  the  Streets  of  the  Town  of  Hartford  a  great  part  of  the 
year  are  extreamly  bad,  to  Which  ye  Great  Concourse  of  People  Drawn  into 
said  Town  to  attend  the  General  Assembly,  Sup''  and  County  Courts,  held  in 
the  town,  greatly  Contributed :  That  your  memorialists  apprehend  that  the  Costs 
and  Expenses  of  Repairing  the  Highways  and  Streets  in  ye  Town  aforesaid,  is 
(by  Reason  of  ye  badness  of  the  ground,  &  greatness  of  Traveling  in  and 
through  said  Town)  much  greater  than  in  any  other  Town  in  this  Colony. — That 
your  memorialists  apprehend  that  to  Leave  the  matter  of  Repairing  said  Streets 
to  the  Ordinary  Provision  made  and  provided  in  Such  Cases  by  Law,  will  for- 
ever prove  ineffectual  for  necessary  repairs  of  Said  Ways,  as  it  has  hitherto 
Done:  That  in  the  Year  1754  sundry  y'  Memorialists  and  others  (finding  it 
absolutely  necessary)  in  Order  to  make  said  Ways  feasible,  were  Obliged  to 
Expend  the  Sum  of  about  ;^i,300  old  Tenor,  by  Private  Subscription,  which 
was  expended  on  the  Town  Street  in  said  Town  from  the  Bridge  to  the  Court 
House,  the  Great  benefitt  of  which  has  been  Experienced  by  y"^  Hon'^  and  the 
Whole  Government." 


29 

tion,  of  which  we  hear  so  much  in  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  down  to  the  days  of  turnpikes,  existed,  magnified 
and  intensified,  when  this  church  was  established  in  Hartford, 
and  for  many  subsequent  years. 

I  reminded  you  at  the  outset  that  we  possess  no  original  map 
of  the  town.  Not  many  years  ago,  however,  a  map  was  com- 
piled by  a  patient  and  intelligent  surveyor  and  antiquarian, 
chiefly  from  the  records  of  land.  It  does  not  profess  to  be 
altogether  accurate,  but  it  represents  substantially  the  orig- 
inal layout  of  the  town.  We  have  it  here  on  a  large  scale,  to 
bring  the  facts  of  the  settlement  as  clearly  as  possible  to 
your  eyes. 

I  call  your  attention  first  to  the  fact  that  it  was  a  skillful 
and  judicious  plan.  The  broken  surface  of  our  territory, 
and  the  water  courses  which  bound  or  divide  it,  forbade  that 
rectangular  and  regular  plan,  which  elsewhere,  and  especially 
in  New  Haven,  was  found  to  be  convenient.  The  wisdom 
of  the  townsmen  here  has  been  justified  by  experience. 
From  1640  till  after  the  incorporation  of  the  city  in  1784, 
144  years  passed,  during  which  but  a  single  highway  was 
added  to  the  original  streets  of  the  town. 

Again  it  is  noticeable  that  the  limits  of  the  city  for  nearly 
70  years  after  its  incorporation  and  about  220  years  from  its 
settlement,  did  not  exceed  the  distributed  and  settled  portion 
of  the  town  in  1640.  In  other  words,  the  territory  possessed 
and  actually  occupied  by  families  in  1640,  suflEiced  them  and 
their  descendants  for  over  200  years.  It  was  not  till  1853 
that  the  population,  then  about  20,000,  had  so  outgrown  the 
original  settlement  that  the  city  limits  were  extended.  The 
early  settlers,  possibly  comprising  600  souls,  had  laid  out 
ample  house  room  and  highways  for  20,000  inhabitants. 
During  the  last  thirty  years  we  have  striven  to  imitate  the 
foresight  of  our  ancestors,  and  have  laid  out  streets  enough 
to  provide  for  the  growth  of  the  next  200  years.  The  city 
and  town  are  now  conterminous.  But  it  is  well  to  bear  in 
mind  that  as  late  as  1853  the  city — and  I  speak  of  the  orig- 
inal city  and   the  original  town  plot  as  identical   in  area — 


30 

comprised  only  about  one-tenth  of  the  area  of  the  town.  It 
did  not  inchide  the  whole  of  the  Union  depot,  the  site  of  the 
jail,  and  the  hospital,  nor  any  land  below  the  South  green. 

None  of  these  old  streets  originally  bore  the  names  they 
do  at  present*  Main  street  was  the  "  Road  from  Centinel 
hill  to  the  Palisado  ;  Front  street — "  Road  from  Little  River 
to  North  Meadows  ;  "  Trumbull  street — "  Centinel  hill  to 
Seth  Grant's  house  ; "  Pearl  street  was  the  "  Road  from  the 
meeting-house  to  the  mill ; "  Arch,  Wells,  Sheldon,  and  Elm 
streets  were  "  Highways  by  the  Little  River."  What  is  now 
State  street  extended  only  to  Front  street.  The  highway  to 
Boston  and  the  East  led  through  Ferry  street  to  the  "  land- 
ing," and  a  flat-boat  ferry  was  the  only  means  of  crossing 
Connecticut  River  till  the  first  toll  bridge  was  completed  in 
1 8 1 1 .  Prospect  street,  though  shown  on  the  map  as  "  Meeting 
House  Lane,"  was  originally  only  a  foot-path,  and  was  not 
laid  out  as  a  highway  till  1787.  Within  mv  own  recollection, 
large,  flat  pieces  of  sandstone  have  been  found  at  different 
spots  along  the  street,  apparently  part  of  an  ancient  walk 
from  Thomas  Hooker's  house  to  the  meeting-house. 

One  street,  shown  on  the  map,  has  been  discontinued.  It 
led  from  North  Main  street,  westerly  to  the  brick  kiln,  or 
Brick  hill,  crossing  High  street  not  far  from  Walnut  street. 
A  few  years  ago,  in  excavating  High  street,  a  section  of  this 
road  was  clearly  discernible  about  four  feet  below  the  present 
surface. 

The  central  spot  of  the  city  so  long  known  to  us  as  State 
House  Square  was  much  more  of  a  square  when  it  was  first 
called  "  Meeting-House  Yard"  by  the  settlers.  It  was  then 
a  rectangle,  at  least  a  third  greater  in  area  than  at  present. 
Encroachments  upon  it  began  at  a  very  early  date.  The  first 
burying-ground  was  located  on  this  square — tradition  says 
near  the  northeast  corner,  on  what  was  afterwards  the  Law- 

*  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  City,  after  its  incorporation  in  1784,  was  to  name 
the  streets.  Pearl  street,  from  Main  to  Trumbull,  was  "Prison  street";  west 
of  Trumbull,  "  Work  House  Lane  "  ;  Trumbull  was  "  Back  street " ;  the  south- 
ern portion  was  "  Maiden  Lane  "  ;  Arch  street  was  "  School "  ;  Sheldon  street, 
"  Water  "  ;  Elm  street,  "  Tanner's  street,"  etc.,  etc. 


31 

rence  property  ;  not  far  from  this  was  the  Jail ;  and  near  the 
southeast  corner,  the  market.  A  market-house  stood  there 
until  about  1829;  and  that  vicinity  has  only  just  ceased — 
if  it  has  ceased — to  be  a  market  place  for  hay,  straw,  and 
wood.  Before  1640  it  was  seen  that  the  burying-ground  on 
the  square  was  insufficient  and  ill-located ;  and  in  that  year 
the  town  purchased  of  "  Richard  Olmsted,  parcel  of  his 
Lot  for  a  Burying  Place,"  which  continued  to  this  century  to 
be  the  principal  burial  ground  of  the  town.  This  is  the  cem- 
etery in  the  rear  of  this  church,  and  it  at  first  extended  to 
Main  street,  including  the  site  of  this  house  and  the  lecture- 
room,  and  of  the  buildings  next  north.  Probably  interments 
were  made  occasionally  on  private  grounds.  The  monu- 
ment of  Dr.  Norman  Morison,  who  died  in  1761,  and  was 
buried  in  his  own  garden,  still  stands  in  front  of  St.  Paul's 
church  on  Market  street,  with  that  of  another  of  his  family. 

The  town  retained  for  a  long  time  the  banks  of  Little 
River  for  mills  sites  and  public  uses,  but  afterwards  (1780  to 
1820)  leased  some  of  the  land  for  long  terms,  at  what  we  now 
consider  a  nominal  rent.  Most,  if  not  all  these  leases,  were 
assigned  by  the  town  in  1824  to  Trinity,  then  Washington 
College,  as  an  inducement  to  its  location  in  Hartford  ;  and 
the  college  still  collects  the  rents,  where  the  leases  have  not 
been  extinguished  or  transferred. 

I  cannot  discover  that  any  land  in  the  town  is  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  descendants  of  the  original  owners,  having 
been  continuously  in  the  possession  of  the  family.  Some, 
through  female  heirs,  may  possibly  be  so  held.  The  property 
No.  459  Main  street,  has  been  for  many  generations  m  the 
Talcott  family,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  belonged  orig- 
inally to  John  Talcott.  His  home  lot  was  on  the  opposite 
side  of  Main  street,  and  Talcott  street  was  laid  out  through 
it  by  Samuel  Talcott  hi  1761.  The  adjacent  land  was  dis- 
tributed to  his  daughter  Mary,  who  married  James  Watson 
of  N.  Y.  By  her,  Talcott  street  was  widened  in  1800,  and 
in  1 8 14  her  interest  in  the  land  was  sold.  A  part  of  the 
old  building  on  the  south  corner  of  Main  and  Talcott  street, 


32 

is  reputed  to  have  been  built  by  John  Talcott  in  1646,  and 
to  be  the  oldest  existing  building  in  town. 

With  these  few  scraps  of  historical  topography,  I  invite 
you  to  examine  the  map,  so  clearly  and  handsomely  enlarged 
from  Mr.  Porter's  diagram,  by  one  of  our  number,  Mr.  Solon 
P.  Davis. 


A  picture  of  the  Rev.  Joel  Hawes  which  hung  near  the  desk  was 
then  unveiled,  and  Mr.  Cone  said :  "  This  portrait  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Hawes  is  to  be  presented  to  this  church  and  .society  by  Rev.  Dr.  Henry 
J.  Van  Lennep,  his  son-in-law,  whose  health  does  not  permit  him  to  be 
present  to-day.  His  son,  Mr.  E.  J.  Van  Lennep,  will  take  this  opportu- 
nity in  behalf  of  his  father  to  present  it." 

He  said: 

It  is  my  privilege  to  represent  one  who  was  for  many  years 
intimately  connected  with  this  church.  By  no  one  could  the 
news  of  this  anniversary  have  been  received  with  greater 
pleasure  than  by  Dr.  Van  Lennep,  and  it  is  indeed  a  disap- 
pointment to  him  that  he  is  not  able  to  be  with  you  to-day. 
It  was  in  the  chapel  of  this  church  that  he  was  received  into 
Christian  fellowship,  when  a  lad  of  sixteen  years,  by  your 
beloved  pastor,  Dr.  Hawes.  And  as  your  representative  he 
went,  a'  few  years  later,  to  his  life  work  in  the  service  of 
foreign  missions.  During  his  thirty  years  of  missionary  life 
in  Turkey,  he  always  felt  that  the  members  of  this  church 
were  among  his  warmest  friends  and  supporters.  From  the 
Christian  fellowship  of  this  church  also  Mrs.  Van  Lennep 
went  to  the  mission  field,  and  her  family,  the  family  of  the 
Rev.  Isaac  Bird,  were  for  many  years  associated  with  you  in 
Christian  work  here  in  Hartford.  Bound  to  you  by  such 
strong  ties  and  hallowed  memories,  they  rejoice  in  the 
evidences  of  your  continued  vigor  and  prosperity. 

Although  this  portrait  came  into  the  possession  of  Dr. 
Van  Lennep  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Hawes,  yet  he  has  always  felt  that  when  a  fitting  occasion 
offered,  it  should  be  presented  to  the  church  in  whose  behalf 
Dr.  Hawes  labored  so  faithfully  and  well. 


33 

You  are  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  listening  to  several  emi- 
nent men  who  have  in  times  past  occupied  the  important 
position  of  pastors  of  this  church  ;  and  in  the  course  of  a 
historical  sketch  the  lives  of  their  predecessors  will  pass 
before  you.  The  portrait  which  I  now  have  the  honor  to 
present,  will,  however,  serve  to  give  greater  vividness  to 
some  of  the  scenes  over  which  Dr.  Hawes  presided.  With 
this  devoted  servant  of  the  Center  Church  are  associated 
cherished  memories  which  the  sight  of  these  familiar  fea- 
tures will  undoubtedly  recall  to  the  minds  of  many  here 
present. 

And  when  the  young  look  upon  this  kindly  face,  may 
they  be  told  of  the  earnest  words  that  fell  from  his  lips,  of 
the  warm  heart  that  ever  sympathized  with  youth,  and  led  so 
many  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 

Often  and  earnestly  has  this  good  man  invoked  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  his  hearers,  and  signally  have  you  been 
blessed  in  the  past.  May  the  same  blessing  rest  upon  and 
abide  with  you  ever  more. 

Rev.  Dr.  Walker  in  behalf  of  the  church  received  the  portrait,  and 
in  returning  thanks  for  it,  alluded  to  the  fact  that  of  the  older  pastors 
there  were  but  two  whose  portraits  were  extant,  Drs.  Strong  and  Hawes. 


Thursday  A 


HURSDAY    /AFTERNOON. 


i2^  ^^::^^tJC>-^^ 


THE  HISTORICAL  ADDRESS. 

BY    GEORGE    LEON    WALKER,    PASTOR. 

A  historical  discourse  has  been  announced  as  one  of  the 
features  of  this  celebration  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford.  But 
the  attempt  to  tell  the  story  of  two  and  a  half  centuries  at  a 
single  sitting  of  an  afternoon  congregation,  is  much  like 
depicting  the  course  of  the  Connecticut  river  on  the  page  of 
a  school-boy's  atlas.  The  map-maker  indeed  undertakes  the 
attempt,  and  succeeds  after  a  manner.  But  it  is  by  heroically 
ignoring  all  minor  details  and  confining  his  notice  only  to 
the  main  features  of  mountain  headland  and  long  river-sweep 
and  abrupt  bend  and  general  direction  and  losing  necessarily 
thereby  almost  all  the  beauty  and  a  chief  part  of  the  truth  of 
the  object  he  attempts  to  delineate.  Still  a  school-chart  of 
the  Connecticut  is  better  than  no  map  of  it  at  all,  and  a  des- 
perately foreshortened  account  of  this  Church's  experiences 
may  be  preferable  to  none. 

I  am  comforted,  furthermore,  in  forecasting  the  deficiencies 
of  the  present  discourse,  by  remembering  that  other  papers, 
to  be  presented  on  special  topics  connected  with  our  Church, 
will  in  a  considerable  degree  supplement  those  deficiences, 
and  discharge  me  of  any  present  obligation  to  refer  at  length 
to  the  matters  with  which  they  are  particularly  to  deal.  Nor 
can  it  I  think  be  inappropriate  for  me  also  to  say,  that  fore- 
seeing the  inevitable  limitations  of  an  anniversary  discourse 
to  tell  adequately  the  tale  which  ought  to  be  told,  I  have 
already  in  a  state  of  large  readiness  for  the  press,  and  hope 
before  many  months  to  complete  and  to  publish,  a  more 
detailed  narrative  of   this   First  Church's   history  than  any 


38 

such  occasion  as  this  would  give  hearing  for.  And  I  refer 
to  this  the  more  freely  at  this  time,  as  affording  me  opportu- 
nity to  add  that  some  statements  of  the  present  discourse, 
which  may  be  more  or  less  unexpected  or  counter  to  state- 
ments heretofore  made  by  others,  I  shall  in  those  more  leis- 
urely pages  undertake  to  verify ;  leaving  them  here  simply  as 
statements,  invoking  only  a  suspension  of  judgment  till  the 
promised  evidence  be  produced. 

It  is  therefore  but  to  a  very  compressed  and  birds-eye  view 
of  this  story  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  that  I  now  a 
little  while  invite  you. 

On  the  nth  of  October,  1633,  Rev,  Thomas  Hooker  and 
Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  both  ministers  of  repute  in  England, 
who  had  landed  in  Boston  from  the  same  ship  which  brought 
Rev.  John  Cotton  and  Mr.  John  Haynes  the  14th  of  Sep- 
tember previous,  were  ordained,  respectively,  Pastor  and 
Teacher  of  a  Church  of  Christ  at  Newtown,  now  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  The  Church  over  which  they  were  thus  set 
had  in  all  probability  been  organized  at  an  earlier  day,  and 
quite  likely  the  previous  autumn,  as  the  congregation  who 
mainly  composed  it  had  been  established  in  a  house  of  wor- 
ship "with  a  bell  upon  it"  in  Newtown  sometime  in  1632. 
This  probable  earlier  period  of  church-gathering  accounts  for 
Winthrop's  silence  respecting  any  such  important  event  as 
the  gathering  of  the  Church,  in  his  account  of  the  ordination 
of  its  officers,  and  corresponds  with  Johnson's  designation  of 
it  as  the  eighth  in  order  in  New  England  ;  a  position  in  rela- 
tion to  others  of  which  there  appears  no  adequate  evidence 
that  this  Church  should  be  deprived,  and  which  carries  its 
birthday  some  months,  and  perhaps  a  year,  back  of  that  first 
distinctly  recorded  date  which  we  celebrate  to-day.  The 
silence  of  Winthrop  respecting  the  institution  of  any  other 
officers  than  the  Pastor  and  Teacher,  makes  the  suggestion 
reasonable  that  William  Goodwin,  who  had  arrived  with  sev- 
eral other  prominent  members  of  the  Church  on  September 
1 6th  of  1632,  had  been  inducted  into  his  office  of  Ruling  Elder 
at  a  previous  date,  and  perhaps  at  the  formation  of  the 
Church. 


39 

But  whenever  gathered,  this  Newtown  Church  doubtless 
proceeded  substantially  after  the  same  manner  as  did  the 
other  early  churches  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  These  churches 
were  all  of  them  formed  of  men  and  women  who  had  been 
members  of  the  English  Establishment.  Few  of  them  had 
been,  in  their  own  land,  distinctly  Separatists  in  principle. 
Many  of  them  could  have  lived  always  in  the  communion  of 
the  church  of  their  birth,  if  a  few  points  of  its  polity  could 
have  been  reformed  in  consonance  with  their  convictions. 
They  were  Puritans,  not  Separates.  Still,  three  thousand 
miles  of  watery  distance,  and  the  homogeneous  quality  of  a 
wilderness  society,  were  great  facts  which  could  not  be  with- 
out influence  in  shaping  the  new  ecclesiastical  framework  of 
their  religious  life.  The  example,  and  the  direct  influence 
also  of  the  avowedly  Separatist  church  of  Plymouth,  had  not 
been  inoperative.  In  the  gathering  of  the  church  of  Salem 
in  1629,  which  in  a  manner  set  a  pattern  for  all  the  others  in 
the  Bay,  that  agency  is  distinctly  traceable.  And  in  the 
case  of  this  particular  Newtown  Church  it  is  quite  certain, 
furthermore,  that  however  it  may  have  been  with  the  mem- 
bership in  general,  the  Pastor  had  come  from  his  exile  in 
Holland,  and  the  Teacher  from  his  Puritan  Lectureship  in 
England,  with  quite  definitely  pronounced  convictions  of  the 
competency  of  every  congregation  of  Christian  people  to 
constitute  themselves  into  a  church,  and  to  appoint  the 
officers  they  supposed  demanded  by  Scripture. 

The  particular  manner  of  this  self-erection  of  a  band  of 
Christians  into  a  church  body-politic,  was  the  solemn  adop- 
tion of  a  Covenant,  by  which  visible  document  of  agreement 
and  sacred  confederation,  the  signers  regarded  themselves 
as  made  into  a  Church  of  Christ,  having  all  necessary  powers 
of  admission,  discipline,  choice  of  officers,  and  ordination  of 
them  to  their  appointed  work. 

The  form  of  words  constituting  the  Newtown  church- 
covenant  is  unknown.  It  has  shared  the  fatality  which  has 
buried  the  entire  documentary  records  of  this  Church's  first 


40 

fifty-two  years — the  most  important  years  to  have  preserved — 
in  obHvion. 

What  its  phraseology,  what  the  nature  of  its  stipulations, 
who  precisely  were  its  signers,  how  many,  in  what  order, 
how  nearly  it  may  have  agreed  with  formulas  which  appear 
from  time  to  time  on  the  records  subsequently,  in  substantial 
identity,  till  the  adoption,  within  the  lifetime  of  some  of  its 
present  membership,  of  a  formal  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Covenant,  of  modern  and  somewhat  clumsy  type,  in  1822 — 
all  these  things  are  to  a  degree  uncertain. 

The  document,  however,  was  not  likely  to  be  essentially 
different  from  several  others  of  that  period  which  time  has 
spared  to  us,  and  of  which  the  covenant  of  the  Boston  church, 
adopted  about  two  years  before,  is  an  example.  And  the 
names  of  the  signers,  at  least  the  male  portion  of  them,  can 
be,  for  the  greater  part,  sufficiently  determined  from  contem- 
poraneous and  shortly  subsequent  civil  records. 

The  signers  were  a  company  of  men  and  women  mainly 
from  a  region  a  little  to  the  north  and  east  of  London,  and 
chiefly  from  the  county  of  Essex,  who  with  a  few  others 
joined  with  them  had  left  England  under  the  primary 
impulse  of  a  desire  for  liberty  to  worship  and  serve  God  as 
conscience  commanded  them. 

They  had  to  some  considerable  extent  been  acquainted 
with  one  another,  and  especially  with  the  Pastor  newly 
ordained  over  them ;  having  lived,  many  of  them,  in  the  near 
vicinage  of  Braintree  and  Chelmsford  where  his  fame  was  a 
household  word.  The  strengthening  spirit  of  prelatical 
authority  significantly  represented  in  the  person  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  who  as  bishop  of  London  had  a  considerable 
time  held  them  under  his  severe  diocesan  sway,  left  them 
little  hope  that  the  liberties  they  had  come  to  deem  essential 
to  Christ's  freemen  could  any  longer  have  scope  in  Eng- 
land. One  after  another  of  the  ancient  Papistic  usages 
which  they  supposed  the  Reformation  to  have  abolished  was 
reimposed  upon  them  by  the  harmoniously  co-operant  author- 
ity of  the  bishop  and  the  king.     One  after  another  of  their 


41 

accepted  preachers  was  silenced  and  exiled.  Some  of  them 
were  imprisoned  and  pilloried.  The  prospect  for  themselves 
and  their  children  was  darkening  daily.  It  is  not  strange 
that  in  this  condition  of  affairs  they  turned  to  the  New 
World  as  their  only  hope. 

Some  time  in  1632  a  considerable  number  of  them  left 
their  homes,  and,  arrived  in  New  England,  began  "to  sit 
down  at  Mt.  Wollaston "  in  the  township  now  known  as 
Quincy.  These  were  by  "  order  of  court,"  in  August  of  that 
year,  removed  to  Newtown.  Governor  Winthrop,  in  record- 
ing the  event  on  the  14th  of  the  month,  calls  them  by  the 
double  appellation  of  the  "  Braintree  Company  "  and  "  Mr. 
Hooker's  Company."  Mr.  Hooker  was  then  in  Holland  and 
did  not  arrive  for  thirteen  months  afterward,  which  of  itself 
suggests  the  fact  corroborated  in  other  ways,  that  the  people 
gathered  in  the  Newtown  church-fellowship  were  a  special 
companionship,  having,  many  of  them,  recognized  relations 
of  obligation  and  expectancy,  long  before  he  arrived,  to  the 
Pastor  who  was  on  the  nth  of  October,  1633,  set  over  them. 

The  Pastor  who  at  that  time  was  "  ordained  "  was  a  man 
who  had  already  exercised  a  ministry  of  thirteen  or  more 
years,  had  received  Episcopal  ordination  in  the  English 
Church,  and  had  stood  in  practical  pastoral  connection  with 
several  Christian  congregations.  His  transcendent  abilities 
and  his  fatherly  relationship  to  this  Church  and  colony  demand 
that  even  in  a  cursory  sketch  like  the  present,  some  space  be 
given  to  his  imposing  figure. 

Thomas  Hooker  was  born  at  the  little  township  of  Marfield, 
in  Leicester  Co.,  England  ;  it  is  believed  on  July  7,  1586, 
The  parish  records  of  Tilton  parish-church,  to  which  Marfield 
ecclesiastically  belongs,  are  non-existent  previous  to  16 10, 
and  do  not  therefore  contain  the  entry  of  his  baptism.  They 
contain,  however,  the  record  of  the  burial  of  his  father, 
mother,  and  eldest  brother ;  which  last,  dying  childless,  and 
leaving  bequests  to  his  brother  Thomas'  sons  in  America, 
causes  the  name  henceforth  to  vanish  from  Tilton  memorials. 

Marfield  is  a  little  hamlet  of  only  five  houses  (having  had 
6 


42 

six  twenty-two  years  before  Hooker's  birth)  lying  in  a 
pleasant  valley  a  mile  and  a  half  north  from  Tilton  hill. 
With  the  exception  of  the  one  vanished  dwelling,  some  old 
oak  timbers  of  which  still  remain,  the  scene  is  probably  not 
appreciably  different  from  what  it  was  when  looked  at  through 
young  Thomas'  eyes.  Still  the  sweet  fields  smile  with 
luxuriant  harvests  around,  and  still  the  most  prominent  object 
to  arrest  the  eye  is  the  stately  church  of  St.  Peter's  at  "  Tilton 
super  montein"  whose  peal  of  six  bells  rings  out  now  as  it 
did  then  from  the  arches  of  its  beautiful  spire.  In  this  really 
noble  church  edifice,  rising  above  the  thatch-covered  village 
that  clusters  about  the  crown  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stands, 
and  tenanted  here  and  there  by  monumental  effigies  of  great 
personages  of  the  parish  back  to  early  in  the  twelfth  century, 
young  Hooker  doubtless  was  baptized,  in  the  font  which  can 
still  be  seen,  and  gained  his  earliest  impressions  of  public 
worship. 

From  his  humble  home  at  Marfield  he  went  at  about 
fourteen  years  of  age  to  the  newly  established  preparatory 
school  of  Market-Bosworth,  about  twenty-five  miles  west- 
ward from  his  birthplace.  It  was  probably  while  he  was  at 
this  school,  and  about  a  year  before  leaving  it  for  the 
university,  that  the  great  and  termagant  Queen  Elizabeth 
died,  and  the  uncouth  and  polemic  James  succeeded  to  the 
monarchy. 

Cotton  Mather  says  Hooker's  parents  "  were  neither  unable 
nor  unwilling  to  bestow  upon  him  a  liberal  education,"  which 
may  in  part  be  true;  but  he  was  matriculated  "Sizar"  of 
Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  on  March  27,  1604,  the  title 
signifying  a  certain  inferiority  at  least,  of  pecuniary  resources. 
He  was  however,  soon,  at  some  unascertainable  date,  trans- 
ferred to  Emmanuel  college,  where  he  took  his  degree  A.  B., 
in  January,  1608,  and  A.  M.  in  161 1. 

Here  at  Emmanuel,  in  the  very  focus  of  Puritanism  in 
that  most  exciting  period,  he  resided  as  undergraduate  and 
afterward  as  Fellow  on  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie's  foundation,  from 
about  his  eighteenth  to  his  twenty-eighth  or  thirtieth  and 


THE   PILGRIM    MOTHERS. 


BY  MAET  A.    BABR. 


Raise  hats  !  and  epeak  proudly  and  graveh 

Of  the  men  who  came  over  the  sea, 
And  raised  In  the  wilderness,  bravely, 

Fair  temples  and  homes  for  the  free. 
Not  with  the  sword,  like  heroes  of  old, 

Nor  with  armies  v\ith  banners  arrayed  ; 
Neither  for  honor,  nor  lucre,  nor  gold, 

These  men  their  long  pilgrimage  made. 

In  the  scabbard  was  hidden  the  sword. 
And  they  came  with  the  Word  of  the  Lard. 

Raise  hats !  and  speak  softly  and  lowly 

Of  the  wives  and  the  mothers  who  oaine, 
For  their  hearts  had  some  swrows  too  hoh 

For  a  soiil  but  a  mother's  to  name. 
They  thought  of  their  English  homestea 
fair, 
^    Of  their  little  ones,  happy  aud  say. 
And  they  wept  for  the  stern  and  joyless  ca 
Of  their  narrow,  hard  childhood's  way. 

One  mother  prayed  sadly:  "  So  hard  is  th. 
day, 
"  Dear  Christ,  let  the  little  ones  dream  tl 
they  piayl" 

Yet  oh  I  the  children  so  tempered  grew 

Into  manhood  and  womanhood  fair  ; 
Their  mother^s  kiss  was  the  sun  and  dew, 

And  their  hearts  waxed  kind  unaware. 
The  ice  was  warmed  to  the  flood  beneath, 

Though  'twas  icy  and  cold  above  ; 
They  might  win  and  Avear  the  hero's  wrea 

Yet  they  longed  for  a  woman's  love. 

For   the   hearts    made    hard   as    steel 

through. 
The  mothers  kissed  soft  as  honey  dew. 

Raise  hats  to  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  I  say! 

They  were  lawgivers,  princes,  and  men 
Of  such  brave  souls  that  they  cut  a  way 

For  Freedom  with  Liberty's  pen. 
But  oh  !  to  the  Pilgrim  Mothers  kneel, 

And,  kissing  their  patient  faces,  say: 
"  Oh  !  grand  sweethearts,  our  hearts  can  fet 

You  made  the  men  who  rule  to-day." 

The  fathers  said:   "  Hons,   with   your  rig 

never  part." 
The  mothers  said:  "  ChildreQ,  keep  love  n 

your  heart." 


56  were  great  years  in 
ints  of  the  gunpowder 
rooby  church  to  Hol- 
whilom  Presbyterian 
f  James  parliaments, 
ince  Charles  with  the 
eigh,  the  outbreak  of 
the  Thirty-years'  war, 
merica. 

to  Hooker  a  greater 
idividual  spiritual  con- 
ied  and  accompanied 
nations  of  soul,  which 
it  may  be  of  somber- 
religious  views  of  the 

;vent  in  his  history,  to 
lecturing  functions  at 
.me  rector  of  the  dona- 
le  place  sixteen  miles 
I  his  wife  Susannah,  a 
ke  who  was  the  donor 

attempts  to  secure  his 
K,  he  went,  apparently 
;ford,  also  in  Essex,  as 
ch  Rev.  John  Michael- 
areships  were    an  out- 
3f  the  age,   and   were 
Dreaching  service  than 
umbent  of  the  parish, 
•y's,  Hooker's  influence 
itry.     Throngs  flocked 
3.     His  personal  power 
I  him  was  immense, 
tention  of  Laud,  then 
;r  was  forced,  sometime 


42 

six  twenty-two  years  before  Hooker's  birth)  lying  in  a 
pleasant  valley  a  mile  and  a  half  north  from  Tilton  hill. 
With  the  exception  of  the  one  vanished  dwelling,  some  old 
oak  timbers  of  which  still  remain,  the  scene  is  probably  not 
appreciably  different  from  what  it  was  when  looked  at  through 
young  Thomas'  eyes.  Still  the  sweet  fields  smile  with 
luxuriant  harvests  around,  and  still  the  most  prominent  object 
to  arrest  the  eye  is  the  stately  church  of  St.  Peter's  at  "  Tilton 
super  fnontem"  whose  peal  of  six  bells  rings  out  now  as  it 
did  then  from  the  arches  of  its  beautiful  spire.  In  this  really 
noble  church  edifice,  rising  above  the  thatch-covered  village 
that  clusters  about  the  crown  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stands, 
and  tenanted  here  and  there  by  monumental  effigies  of  great 
personages  of  the  parish  back  to  early  in  the  twelfth  century, 
young  Hooker  doubtless  was  baptized,  in  the  font  which  can 
still  be  seen,  and  gained  his  earliest  impressions  of  public 
worship. 

From  his  humble  home  at  Marfield  he  went  at  about 
fourteen  years  of  age  to  the  newly  established  preparatory 
school  of  Market-Bosworth,  about  twenty-five  miles  west- 
ward from  his  birthplace.  It  was  probably  while  he  was  at 
this  school,  and  about  a  year  before  leaving  it  for  the 
university,  that  the  great  and  termagant  Queen  Elizabeth 
died,  and  the  uncouth  and  polemic  James  succeeded  to  the 
monarchy. 

Cotton  Mather  says  Hooker's  parents  "  were  neither  unable 
nor  unwilling  to  bestow  upon  him  a  liberal  education,"  which 
may  in  part  be  true;  but  he  was  matriculated  "Sizar"  of 
Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  on  March  27,  1604,  the  title 
signifying  a  certain  inferiority  at  least,  of  pecuniary  resources. 
He  was  however,  soon,  at  some  unascertainable  date,  trans- 
ferred to  Emmanuel  college,  where  he  took  his  degree  A.  B., 
in  January,  1608,  and  A.  M.  in  161 1. 

Here  at  Emmanuel,  in  the  very  focus  of  Puritanism  in 
that  most  exciting  period,  he  resided  as  undergraduate  and 
afterward  as  Fellow  on  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie's  foundation,  from 
about  his  eighteenth  to  his  twenty-eighth  or  thirtieth  and 


43 

possibly  even  thirty-second  year.  These  were  great  years  in 
English  history.  They  covered  the  events  of  the  gunpowder 
plot,  the  exile  of  Robinson  and  his  Scrooby  church  to  Hol- 
land, the  forcing  of  Episcopacy  by  the  whilom  Presbyterian 
James  into  Scotland,  the  dissolution  of  James'  parliaments, 
the  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  prince  Charles  with  the 
Spanish  Infanta,  the  execution  of  Raleigh,  the  outbreak  of 
the  Protestant  and  Catholic  struggle  of  the  Thirty-years'  war, 
the  planting  of  Plymouth  Colony  in  America. 

But  somewhere  in  this  period  came  to  Hooker  a  greater 
personal  event  than  any  of  them,  his  individual  spiritual  con- 
version. This  experience  was  preceded  and  accompanied 
in  his  case  with  the  intensest  perturbations  of  soul,  which 
probably  lent  something  of  vigor,  and  it  may  be  of  somber- 
ness  and  severity,  to  some  of  his  after  religious  views  of  the 
necessary  processes  of  spiritual  change. 

He  appears  after  this  transcendent  event  in  his  history,  to 
have  fulfilled  certain  catechetical  and  lecturing  functions  at 
the  university;  but  about  1620  he  became  rector  of  the  dona- 
tive parish  of  Esher  in  Surrey,  a  little  place  sixteen  miles 
west  from  London.  Here  he  married  his  wife  Susannah,  a 
"  waiting  gentlewoman  "  of  a  Mr.  Drake  who  was  the  donor 
of  the  parish  living. 

From  hence,  after  some  ineffectual  attempts  to  secure  his 
establishment  at  Colchester  in  Essex,  he  went,  apparently 
sometime  in  1625  or  1626  to  Chelmsford,  also  in  Essex,  as 
Lecturer  at  St.  Mary's  church,  of  which  Rev.  John  Michael- 
son  was  rector.  These  Puritan  lectureships  were  an  out- 
growth' of  the  religious  movement  of  the  age,  and  were 
designed  to  secure  a  more  efficient  preaching  service  than 
co.uld  often  be  had  from  the  legal  incumbent  of  the  parish. 
From  this  beautiful  church  of  St.  Mary's,  Hooker's  influence 
radiated  through  all  the  adjacent  country.  Throngs  flocked 
from  all  quarters  to  listen  to  his  words.  His  personal  power 
over  those  brought  in  conference  with  him  was  immense. 

These  facts  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  Laud,  then 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  Mr.  Hooker  was  forced,  sometime 


44 

late  in  1629,  against  the  remonstrance  in  his  behalf  of  a 
large  body  of  Conformist  ministers  of  Essex  county,  to  lay 
down  his  ministry.  Thus  silenced,  he  removed  from  Chelms- 
ford to  Little  Baddow,  four  miles  away,  and  taught  a  school, 
having  John  Eliot,  afterwards  the  Apostle  Eliot  and  who 
was  converted  in  his  family,  as  assistant.  But  his  influence 
still  haunted  the  region.  Conference  with  him  was  still 
possible  and  was  dreaded  by  the  authorities.  Sometime  early 
in  1630  he  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  High  Commission 
court,  but  convinced  of  the  bodily  danger  of  doing  so,  he 
forfeited  his  bonds  with  the  consent  of  his  sureties,  and  after 
a  narrow  escape  from  his  pursuers  got  off  for  Holland. 

Arrived  in  Holland  Mr.  Hooker  preached  temporarily  at 
Amsterdam,  then  nearly  two  years  at  Delft,  and  afterward 
awhile  at  Rotterdam.  Here  he  united  with  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Ames  in  the  authorship  of  a  volume,  published  in  1633, 
entitled  "  A  Fresh  Suit  against  Human  Ceremonies  in  God's 
Worship."  While  thus  laboring  in  Holland,  overtures  were 
made  to  him  by  some  of  his  former  Essex  County  hearers 
to  accompany  or  follow  them  into  America.  Attempts  were 
made  to  join  him  with  Rev.  John  Cotton  in  the  same  enter- 
prise. These  attempts  failed,  but  overtures  being  success- 
fully made  to  another  to  become  his  assistant,  Mr.  Hooker 
crossed  to  England,  narrowly  escaped  arrest,  embarked  on 
the  Griffin,  and  on  Sept.  4,  1633,  reached  Boston,  whence  he 
soon  joined  the  waiting  flock  at  Newtown,  with  the  Apostolic 
salutation,  "  Now  I  live  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord." 

The  other  minister  who  was  secured  as  assistant  to  Mr. 
Hooker  in  the  New  England  enterprise  was  Rev.  Samuel 
Stone.  Mr.  Stone  was  born  at  Hertford  (commonly  pro- 
nounced Harford),  in  Hertfordshire,  England,  and  baptized 
at  the  church  of  All  Saints,  July  30,  1602.  He  was  probably 
prepared  for  the  university  at  Hale's  Grammar  School  in  his 
native  town,  and  was  matriculated  pensioner  at  Emmanuel 
College,  April  19,  1620.  He  took  his  A.B.  degree  in  1624, 
and  his  A.M.  in  1627.  These  university  years  of  Stone, 
also,  were  great  years  in  English  history.     They  saw  the 


45 

departure  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  accession  of  Charles  First,  the 
marriage  with  Henrietta  Maria,  the  reception  of  Laud  as  the 
King's  chief  ecclesiastical  adviser,  the  levy  of  Charles'  first 
forced  loan,  the  degradation  of  Chief  Justice  Crewe,  the 
disastrous  issue  of  the  siege  of  Rochelle. 

After  leaving  the  university,  Mr.  Stone  studied  divinity 
awhile  in  the  very  peculiar  and  interesting  theological  school 
of  Rev.  Richard  Blackerby,  an  eminent  Puritan  divine,  who 
"  not  being  capable  of  a  benefice  because  he  could  not 
subscribe,"  amid  a  good  deal  of  tribulation,  boarded  and 
educated  divinity  students  for  twenty-three  years. 

From  this  school,  at  Aspen  in  Essex,  Stone  went,  in  1630, 
as  Puritan  lecturer  to  Towcester  in  Northamptonshire, 
recommended  thereto  by  Thomas  Shepard,  some  years  after- 
ward Mr.  Hooker's  son-in-law  and  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Newtown  which  was  formed  after  the  departure  of  this  Church 
to  Hartford.  It  was  while  successfully  occupying  this  Tow- 
cester lectureship,  and  doubtless  in  view  of  his  recognized 
learning  and  powers,  that  the  proposals  were  made  to  Mr. 
Stone  which  brought  him  into  connection  with  Mr.  Hooker 
and  with  the  Church  to  which  he  was  to  bear  the  relation  of 
Teacher.  A  quick-witted,  resourceful,  able  man,  his  adroit- 
ness saved  Mr.  Hooker  from  arrest  just  before  their  embarka- 
tion, and  there  is  no  evidence  that  their  intimate  relationship 
was  not  an  occasion  of  satisfaction  to  them  always. 

Set  thus  in  their  appointed  positions  as  practical  and  doc- 
trinal expounders  of  the  Gospel,  and  ordained  probably  by 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  William  Goodwin,  and  some 
two  or  three  lay  brethren  of  the  Church,  and  having  chosen 
Andrew  Warner,  and  possibly  some  one  beside.  Deacon, 
the  Newtown  Church  was,  after  the  Congregational  way, 
a  fully  equipped  organization,  and  was  ready  for  the  Lord's 
work.  And  when  autumnal  days  really  settled  down  in 
1633  upon  the  little  town,  William  Wood,  writing  this  same 
year,  was  able  to  describe  the  Newtown  village  as  "  one  of 
the  neatest  and  best  compacted  towns  in  New  England." 

But  Newtown  was  not  destined  to  be  long  the  home  of  this 


46 

Christian  companionship.  There  was,  all  along  from  very 
near  the  arrival  of  the  Griffin's  company  with  Mr.  Hooker, 
Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Haynes,  and  Mr.  Stone,  a  certain  uneasiness 
in  respect  to  the  Newtown  location,  all  the  causes  of  which 
are  somewhat  difficult  to  trace,  but  which  are  more  or  less 
distinctly  indicated  in  various  documentary  records. 

It  was  only  seven  months  after  the  induction  of  Mr. 
Hooker  into  the  pastorate,  that  the  people  of  "  Newtown 
complained,  May,  1634,  of  straitness  for  want  of  land,  espe- 
cially meadow,  and  desired  leave  of  the  Court  to  look  out 
either  for  enlargement  or  removal."  Unadjusted  at  this 
time,  the  matter  again  came  before  the  Court  in  September, 
at  which  time  the  argument  for  removal,  and  to  Connecticut 
as  the  objective  point,  had  reached  this  degree  of  definiteness 
in  statement:  "  i.  Their  want  of  accommodation  for  their 
cattle,  so  as  they  were  not  able  to  maintain  their  ministers, 
nor  could  receive  any  more  of  their  friends  to  help  them.  .  .  . 
2.  The  fruitfulness  and  commodiousness  of  Connecticut, 
and  the  danger  of  having  it  possessed  by  others,  Dutch  or 
English.  3.  The  strong  bent  of  their  spirits  to  remove 
thither."  The  matter  was  excitedly  discussed.  The  very 
"  reverend  and  godly  "  William  Goodwin,  the  Ruling  Elder  of 
the  congregation  at  Newtown,"  was  rebuked  for  "  unreverend 
speech  "  in  open  Court.  A  grant  of  enlargement,  embracing 
the  territory  now  known  as  the  towns  of  Brookline,  Brighton, 
Newtown,  and  Arlington  was  made.  There  was  hoped  to  be 
an  amicable  adjustment. 

But  it  did  not  last.  The  "  strong  bent "  of  the  Newtown 
people's  spirits  to  "  remove  "  continued.  The  territorial  ques- 
tion could  not  have  been  the  only  question.  They  were 
perhaps  a  hundred  and  twenty  families.  The  population  on 
the  same  soil  is  now  upwards  of  seventy  thousand  souls. 
Other  causes  than  lack  of  ground  in  five  townships  to  pas- 
ture the  few  cattle  of  Newtown's  third  summer,  must  have 
conspired  to  create  this  restlessness.  What  were  they.-* 
The  historian  Hubbard,  writing  within  fifty  years  of  these 
events,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull  in  his  account  long  sub- 


47 

sequently  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Haynes,  both  intimate  that 
considerations  respecting  the  relative  influence  of  the  chief 
leaders  of  the  two  towns,  Boston  and  Newtown  (Winthrop 
and  Cotton  in  the  one,  and  Haynes  and  Hooker  in  the  other) 
had  something  more  to  do  with  the  matter  than  territorial 
ones.  Some  good  people  have  been  quite  horrified  at  this. 
But  horrifying  or  not  this  was  probably  the  case. 

Nor  do  I  see  anything  in  it  to  apologize  for.  The  New- 
town people  were  in  a  remarkable  degree  a  homogeneous 
company,  acquainted  with  one  another  and  with  their  Pastor 
in  the  old  country.  The  came  into  the  pre-existing  commu- 
nity of  the  Bay  with  something  of  the  distinct  character  of 
a  body  corporate.  Their  views  of  civil  policy  were  from  the 
outset  somewhat  different  from  their's  who  preceded  them. 
Mr.  Cotton  and  Mr.  Hooker  were  too  positively  marked 
characters,  however  friendly,  always  wholly  to  harmonize  ; 
and  there  were  some  special  provocations,  if  not  to  jealousy 
at  least  to  willingness  to  move  in  less  closely  parallel  paths, 
attending  the  tumult  made  in  the  colony  about  "  Mr.  Cotton 
his  sitting  down,"  who  had  been  once  applied  to  as  Mr. 
Hooker's  assistant  or  colleague  in  the  American  enterprise. 

Add  to  this,  that  already,  in  1635,  the  theological  differ- 
ences, which  afterward  developed  into  such  prominence  over 
the  views  of  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  in  reference  to 
which  Cotton  and  Hooker  were  to  a  degree  antagonized, 
began  to  show  some  of  their  earlier  and  unhappy  results,  and 
it  is  not  strange  that  with  the  sense  of  competency  to  their 
own  affairs  within  them,  and  the  sight  of  the  sweet  meadows 
of  the  Connecticut  a  hundred  miles  away  alluring  them,  their 
"  strong  bent "  to  go  should  at  last  prevail.  It  did  prevail. 
Some  of  them  came  in  the  autumn  of  1635,  suffering 
immense  hardship  in  the  following  winter  of  prolonged  and 
almost  unparalleled  severity. 

But  the  greater  part  delayed  their  pilgrimage  till  spring. 
They  sold  their  Newtown  habitations  to  the  congregation  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  who   occupied  the  vacated  village. 


48 

And  on  the  thirty-first  of  May,  1636,  they  set  out  on  their 
journey. 

It  is  the  season  in  our  New  England  climate  when  the 
landscape  has  just  burst  into  verdure.  The  streams  run 
full  with  the  melted  snows  of  winter.  The  ground  is  spotted 
with  the  anemone  and  wild  violet.  The  days  are  alive  with 
promise,  but  the  nights,  though  short,  are  damp  and  chill. 
The  Newtown  pilgrims  struck  out  into  the  unpathwayed 
woods.  Their  guides  were  the  compass  and  the  northern 
star.  Evening  by  evening  they  made  camp  and  slept  senti- 
neled by  the  blazing  fires.  One  of  their  number,  the  pastor's 
wife,  was  carried  on  a  litter  because  of  her  infirmity. 

The  lowing  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  cattle  sounding  through 
the  forest  aisles,  not  to  mention  the  bleating  of  goats  and 
the  squealing  of  swine,  summoned  them  to  each  morning's 
advance. 

The  day  began  and  ended  with  the  voice  of  prayer.  At 
some  point  of  their  fortnight's  journey  a  Sabbath  intervened, 
when  the  camp  rested  and  the  people  listened  to  the  exhorta- 
tions of  their  ministers  and  joined  in  solemn  psalm.  Their 
toilsome  and  devious  way  led  them  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Chicopee,  close  by  where  now  stands  Springfield.  Thence 
was  a  comparatively  easy  pathway.  Meadow  lands  were  in 
sight  always. 

The  wide,  full  river,  flowing  with  a  larger  tide  than  now, 
was  crossed  on  rafts  and  rude  constructed  boats  ;  and  on  the 
soil  where  we  now  stand,  cheered  by  the  sight  of  some 
pioneer  attempts  at  settlement  made  by  those  of  their  num- 
ber who  had  come  the  season  previous,  the  Ark  of  the  P'irst 
Church  of  Hartford  rested,  and  the  weary  pilgrims  who  bore 
it  hither  stood  still. 

Arrived  upon  the  grounds  one  of  the  earliest  transactions 
of  the  new  comers  .was  the  purchase  of  the  land  from  the 
Indians.  This  seems  to  have  been  done  in  1636,  and  Rev. 
Samuel  Stone  and  Elder  William  Goodwin  were  the  agents  in 
the  negotiation.  The  territory  embraced  in  the  purchase 
was  about  coincident  with  the  territory  subsequently  known 
as  the  township  of  Hartford. 


49 

The  portion  needed  for  the  immediate  uses  of  the  httle 
village  was  parceled  out  into  lots  covering  most  of  the  older 
portions  of  this  city:  those  assigned  to  the  Pastor,  the 
Teacher,  and  the  Ruling  Elder  fronted  on  the  Little  River  ; 
Mr.  Goodwin's  being  on  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Arch  and 
Main  Streets  ;  Mr.  Stone's  next  eastward,  and  Mr.  Hooker's 
beyond  Mr.  Stone's.  Dea.  Andrew  Warner's  lot  lay  across 
the  Little  River  opposite  Mr.  Stone's. 

The  central  point  of  interest  in  an  ecclesiastical  point  of 
view  was  of  course  the  Meeting-House.  This  was  situated 
on  Meeting-House  Yard,  a  tract  of  territory  covering  the 
ground  now  known  as  State  House  Square,  and  of  somewhat 
larger  extent,  especially  on  the  northern  and  southern  sides. 
Here,  somewhere  on  the  portion  now  covered  by  the  build- 
ings of  Central  Row,  a  temporary  structure  first  afforded  a 
meeting  place  for  public  worship.  This,  within  about  four 
years,  gave  place  to  another  destined  to  fill  its  purpose  nearly 
one  hundred  years,  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  square,  • 
near  the  corner  made  by  the  road  leading  down  to  the  Con- 
necticut River  ;  a  spot  coinciding  nearly  enough  with  the 
vacant  space  just  west  of  the  American  House  or  its  Hall. 
Not  far  from  the  meeting-house,  on  the  same  public  square, 
were  those  other  more  secular  conservators  of  public  welfare, 
the  jail,  the  stocks,  and  whipping-post.  The  first  burial  place 
of  the  dead — for  men  and  women  would'  die  amid  all  the 
hopes  of  a  new  colony  on  a  fresh  planted  continent — lay  on 
the  northerly  side  of  Meeting-House  Yard,  westward  upon 
or  above  the  site  of  the  present  City  Building.  The  spot 
was  formerly  higher  than  now,  and  its  leveling  removed  alike 
monuments  and  graves. 

The  first  rude  church;  however,  was  hardly  built  and  the 
plain  dwellings  of  the  pilgrims  made  habitable,  before  it 
became  necessary  to  fight  for  home  and  life.  It  was  only 
May,  1637,  when  the  expedition  against  the  Pequots,  led  by 
Captain  John  Mason,  took  place  ;  a  really  heroic  and  notable 
enterprise,  in  which  Mr.  Stone  went  with  the  small  army  as 
chaplain,  while  Mr.  Hooker  as  an  encouragement  declared 
7 


50 

to  the  departing  brothers  and  sons  of  the  anxious  little  com- 
monwealth, that  "  the  Pequots  should  be  bread  for  them." 
The  result  was  as  the  Pastor  prophesied,  and  the  Pequot's 
power  was  permanently  broken. 

It  a  little  revolts  modern  feeling,  however,  to  find  Mr. 
Ludlow  and  Mr.  Pynchon  and  several  other  presumably 
good  Christians  carrying  to  Boston  shortly  after,  the  skins 
and  scalps  of  the  vanquished  "  Sassacus  and  his  brother,  and 
five  other  Pequot  sachems,  who,  being  fled  to  the  Mohawks 
for  shelter  ,  .  .  were  by  them  surprised  and  slain."  Even 
in  that  hard  age  there  was  one  man,  Roger  Williams,  who 
said,  "  Those  dead  hands  were  no  pleasing  sight." 

But  even  the  exigencies  of  war  and  wilderness  could  not 
divert  the  attention  of  those  pioneers  of  the  church  from 
questions  of  theology. 

On  the  fifth  of  August  following  the  Pequot  slaughter  in 
May,  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone  arrived  in  Boston,  through 
the  forests  from  Hartford — or  Newtown,  as  Hartford  was 
still  called  in  accordance  with  the  Massachusetts  name — to 
attend  an  ecclesiastical  council  concerning  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines promulgated  by  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  and  her  brother- 
in-law,  Mr.  Wheelwright,  which  had  thrown  the  Bay  Colony 
in  general,  and  Boston  church  in  particular,  into  ferment. 
Mr.  Ludlow,  Mr.  Pynchon,  and  others  who  carried  the 
Pequot  skins  and  scalps  along  with  them,  went  as  delegates 
on  the  same  business. 

The  churches  of  the  entire  colony  were  turmoiled.  Mr. 
Wilson,  pastor  of  the  Boston  church,  and  Mr.  Cotton,  its 
teacher,  had  for  some  months  been  regarded  as  taking  differ- 
ent sides.  Public  fasts  had  been  appointed  in  January  and 
July  previous,  in  view  of  the  dissensions  in  the  churches. 
In  May,  some  of  the  Massachusetts  soldiers,  called  out  in 
the  Pequot  matter,  had  declined  to  go  with  Mr.  Wilson  as 
chaplain,  alleging  that  he  was  "  under  a  covenant  of  works." 

The  civil  government  had  shifted  hands  on  the  issues 
involved,  Governor  Vane  losing  his  election  and  returning  to 
England.     In  this  condition  of  things  a  Synod  was  called, 


51 

to  which  the  representatives  of  the  scarce-rooted  Connecticut 
churches  went.  The  sessions  lasted  twenty-two  days.  Rev. 
Peter  Bulkley  of  Concord  and  Mr.  Hooker  of  Hartford  were 
moderators.  As  a  result  of  the  deliberations,  eighty-two 
opinions  more  or  less  intimately  connected  with  Mrs. 
Hutchinson's  teachings  were  condemned  as,  "some,  blas- 
phemous, others  erroneous,  and  all  unsafe."  It  was  further 
resolved  with  special  reference  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  Bible- 
reading  meetings,  that  though  females  meeting  "  some  few 
together"  for  prayer  and  edification  might  be  allowed,  yet 
that  "  a  set  assembly  where  sixty  or  more  did  meet  every 
week,  and  one  woman  took  on  her  the  whole  exercise  "  was 
"  disorderly  and  without  rule."  The  assembly  broke  up  on 
the  22d  of  September,  and  so  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr,  Stone  had 
chance  to  go  back  to  Hartford  after  more  than  two  months' 
absence,  during  which  time,  doubtless,  Ruling  Elder  Good- 
win had  "  exercised  by  way  of  prophecy  "  in  their  place. 

The  following  year,  1638,  witnessed  the  preliminary  pro- 
ceedings, very  imperfectly  recorded,  of  the  formulation  of 
that  body  of  Fundamental  Law,  drawn  up  at  the  direction  of 
the  Court  by  Roger  Ludlow,  which  has  been  called  by  Dr. 
Leonard  Bacon  the  "first  written  constitution  in  the  history  of 
nations."  But  our  chief  interest  in  the  matter  on  this  occasion 
is  not  a  historic  one,  looked  at  from  the  point  of  civil  admin- 
istration. The  interest  as  connected  with  this  Church  is 
two-fold.  It  is,  first,  that  the  form  of  government  here  in 
distinct  prescription  established,  was  simply  an  extension  to 
the  domain  of  secular  affairs  of  the  principles  already  adopted 
in  religious  matters — the  mutual  covenant  and  agreement  of 
those  associated,  as  under  God  the  ultimate  law.  And 
second,  and  more  particularly,  because  of  the  agency  in 
establishing  this  principle,  of  the  wise  and  far-sighted  Pastor 
of  this  Church.  We  are  indebted  for  the  discovery  of  defin- 
ite evidence  of  this  agency,  to  the  skill  and  research  of  our 
distinguished  antiquarian  townsman.  Dr.  J.  H.  Trumbull.  The 
evidence  lay  undiscovered  more  than  two  and  a  quarter  cen- 
turies in  a  little  almost  undecipherable  manuscript  volume. 


52 

written  by  a  young  man  in  our  neighbor  town  of  Windsor. 
In  it  is  found  an  abstract  of  Mr,  Hooker's  lecture  given  on 
May  31,  1638.  The  doctrine  laid  down  in  the  discourse  is, 
"That  the  choice  of  public  magistrates  belongs  unto  the 
people  by  God's  own  allowance.  .  .  .  That  they  who  have 
the  power  to  appoint  officers  and  magistrates,  it  is  in  their 
power,  also,  to  set  the  bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power 
and  place  to  which  they  call  them." 

The  preacher  declares  that  "the  foundation  of  authority 
is  laid,  firstly,  in  the  free  consent  of  the  people  ; "  and  the 
"  use  "  which  he  derived  from  the  principles  laid  down  was 
an  exhortation  to  take  the  liberty  they  had  in  their  power. 

Dr.  Bacon  says,  "  That  sermon  by  Thomas  Hooker  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  First  Church  of  Hartford  is  the  earliest 
known  suggestion  of  a  fundamental  law,  enacted  not  by  royal 
charter,  nor  by  concession  from  any  previously  existing 
government,  but  by  the  people  themselves — a  primary  and 
supreme  law  by  which  the  government  is  constituted,  and 
which  not  only  provides  for  the  free  choice  of  magistrates  by 
the  people  but  also  '  sets  the  bounds  and  limitations  of  the 
power  and  place  to  which '  each  magistrate  is  called."  Eight 
months  later  the  Fundamental  Laws  embodying  these  princi- 
ples were  "  sentenced,  ordered,  and  decreed."  It  is  impossi- 
ble not  to  recognize  the  Master-hand.  It  diminishes  nothing 
of  the  proper  honor  of  Roger  Ludlow  to  say  that  the  Pastor 
of  the  Hartford  Church  was  Connecticut's  great  legislator 
also. 

In  the  May  following  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution 
in  January,  1639,  ^^-  Hooker  and  Mr.  Haynes,  the  governor, 
were  in  Boston  on  the  business  of  a  treaty  of  confederation 
with  Massachusetts  ;  and  the  same  year  saw  the  organization 
of  the  church  at  New  Haven,  where  the  tradition  is  that  Mr. 
Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone  were  present  as  representatives  of  the 
Hartford  Church. 

Meanwhile  events  were  onmoving  in  England.  The  par- 
liament, known  as  the  Long  Parliament,  began  its  session  in 
1640.     Laud,  who  had  been  the  chief  agent  in  driving  out  of 


53 

the  old  country  a  large  part  of  the  ministers  in  the  new,  was 
himself  imprisoned  in  1641.  The  king  or  the  parliament  was 
to  break.  The  ecclesiastical  constitution  shared  the  general 
disorder.  Presbyterianism,  Episcopacy,  Independency,  were 
all  eagerly  contended  for,  though  by  parties  having  very 
unequal  numerical  strength.  In  this  state  of  affairs  a 
General  Assembly  was  ordered  by  Parliament,  and  being 
contemplated  the  American  exiles  were  not  forgotten.  Mr. 
Cotton  of  Boston,  Mr.  Davenport  of  New  Haven,  and  Mr. 
Hooker  of  Hartford,  were  sent  to  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  some  thirty-seven  other  Independent 
members  of  parliament,  to  "  assist  in  the  synod."  Mr.  Cotton 
and  Mr.  Davenport  inclined  to  go.  Mr.  Hooker,  with 
characteristic  sagacity  discerning  the  numerical  weakness  of 
the  Independent  interest  in  the  assembly  as  it  was  actually 
constituted,  declined.  The  matter  fell  through  with  all  the 
American  divines,  and  the  event  proved  anew  the  accuracy 
of  the  Hartford  Pastor's  judgment. 

The  English  Assembly  issued  a  Presbyterian  platform. 
This  fact  gave  new  encouragement  to  a  few  eminent  minis- 
ters in  Massachusetts  colony  whose  views  favored  that  form 
of  church  policy.  Fearful  of  the  spread  of  such  views  to  the 
subversion  of  the  "  congregational  way,"  it  was  deemed  best 
to  hold  a  synod  in  Cambridge  to  emphasize  Independent 
principles.  The  synod  met  in  September,  1643,  and  was  com- 
posed of  "all  the  elders  in  the  country,"  about  fifty  in 
number.  Here  again,  as  in  1637,  Mr.  Hooker,  joined  this 
time  with  Mr.  Cotton,  was  one  of  the  nioderators. 

But  apparently  the  conclusions  were  not  conclusive.  The 
party  of  Presbyterianism  grew.  A  meeting  was  held  at 
Cambridge,  July  i,  1645,  at  which  it  was  agreed  to  send 
over  to  England  for  publication  certain  books  in  reply  to  the 
Presbyterian  arguments,  which  had  been  written  by  ministers 
here.  Among  these  books  were  Davenport's  answer  to 
Paget  known  as  the  "  Power  of  Congregational  Churches," 
and  Hooker's  "Survey  of  the  Summe  of  Church  Discipline" 
in  reply  to  Rutherford's  "  Due  Right  of  Presbyteries."     The 


54 

first  copies  of  these  books  were  lost  in  the  vessel  which  sailed 
from  New  Haven  in  January,  1646,  and  never  heard  of  more, 
save  in  the  phantom  of  it  which  appeared  two  years  and  five 
months  afterward,  and  which  John  Davenport  declared  was 
sent  for  the  comfort  of  surviving  friends  of  the  vanished  crew. 
The  books,  thus  lost,  were  laboriously  rewritten,  again  sent, 
and  published  ;  Hooker's,  however,  not  printed  till  after  his 
death.  Of  Mr.  Hooker's  Survey  of  Church  Discipline  it  can 
here  only  be  said,  that  with  far  more  of  erudition  and  histori- 
cal learning,  it  divides  with  John  Cotton's  "  Keyes  "  the  place 
of  chief  authority  in  early  Congregational  literature. 

By  May  of  1646,  the  peril  of  a  subversion  of  ecclesiastical 
usages  seemed  so  great  that  Massachusetts  summoned  the 
synod  which  had  passed  into  history  as  the  Cambridge 
Synod,  and  the  promulgator  of  the  Platform  of  that  name. 
The  synod  met  on  the  ist  of  September,  for  its  first  fort- 
night's session.  Mr.  Stone  was  present,  but  Mr.  Hooker 
was  not  there.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  his  son-in-law  Shepherd 
excusing  himself  on  account  of  age  and  infirmities.  The 
synod  adjourned  until  June  8th  of  the  following  year. 
Regathered  at  that  date  it  was  almost  immediately  adjourned 
again  by  reason  of  an  epidemic  throughout  New  England. 

The  sickness  was  very  severe  in  Hartford.  Many  of  the 
citizens  died  of  it.  One  of  them  Treasurer  William  Whit- 
ing. But  its  most  shining  mark  was  the  Pastor  of  this 
Church.  Governor  Winthrop  in  his  diary  records  :  "  That 
which  made  the  stroke  more  sensible  and  grievous  both  to 
them  [of  Connecticut]  and  to  all  the  country  was  the  death 
of  that  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord,  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker, 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Hartford,  who  for  piety,  prudence, 
wisdom,  zeal,  learning,  and  what  else  might  make  him 
serviceable  in  the  place  and  time  he  lived  in,  might  be  com- 
pared with  men  of  greatest  note ;  and  he  shall  need  no  other 
praise ;  the  fruits  of  his  labors  in  both  Englands  shall  pre- 
serve an  honorable  and  happy  remembrance  of  him  for  ever." 
This  wise  and  eloquent  eulogy  cannot  receive  at  this  time, 
and  needs  scarcely  at  any  time,  any  amplification.     Some 


55 

twenty-three  volumes,  mainly  of  sermons  and  expositions, 
remain  to  us  from  Mr.  Hooker's  hand.  They  give  us,  in 
their  vivacity,  pungency,  and  power,  a  little  glimpse  of  the 
majestic  man.  His  theology  was  of  the  sternest  Calvinistic 
type.  He  was  a  "  Hopkinsian  before  Hopkins."  But  min- 
gled with  all  his  sternness  and  strength  is  a  beauty  and 
felicity  most  unusual  to  his  time,  unexampled  among  his 
New  England  associates.  In  extent  of  learning  probably 
none  of  them  but  John  Norton  could  compare  with  him. 
He  was  a  man  of  whom  it  was  said  that  "  on  the  Lord's 
business  he  could  put  a  king  in  his  pocket." 

Mr.  Hooker  died  July  7,  1647,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  and 
it  is  said  on  the  anniversary  of  his  birth.  His  mortal  part 
lies  mouldered  back  to  dust  just  behind  this  church.  His 
memory  is  that  of  one  of  the  best  and  greatest  of  men. 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Hooker  the  Church  does  not  seem 
to  have  contemplated  the  possibility  of  long  continuing  with- 
out another  minister.  Mr.  Stone  was  only  forty-four  years 
old,  but  the  theory  of  the  dual  ministry  with  which  the  New 
England  churches  had  begun,  was  not  yet  worn  out.  So 
measures  were  at  once  taken  to  secure  a  successor  to  the 
late  Pastor. 

The  seed  planted  in  the  founding  of  Harvard  College  in 
1636  had  already  begun  to  bear  fruit.  And  the  first  man  to 
whom  the  Hartford  Church  turned  was  Jonathan  Mitchell, 
still  a  student  there.  Mr.  Mitchell,  however,  was  not 
destined  to  become  pastor  of  the  Hartford  congregation, 
although  promptly  and  earnestly  invited.  He  speedily  after 
settled  in  Cambridge,  and  died  comparatively  young,  but 
leaving  an  illustrious  name  in  New  England  history. 

Neither  was  Michael  Wigglesworth  so  destined,  nor  John 
Davis  his  classmate,  nor  John  Cotton,  son  of  the  famous 
Boston  John,  who  for  quite  a  protracted  period  lived  at 
Hartford,  studied  divinity  with  Mr.  Stone,  and  ministered  to 
the  congregation. 

Michael  Wigglesworth's  candidacy,  at  different  times  in 
1653   and   1654  (for  such  his  diary  shows  it  to  have  been) 


56 

may,  however,  be  mentioned  as  probably  affording  the  most 
distinctly  recognizable  provoking  occasion  of  the  series  of 
events  which  give  to  the  next  few  years  of  this  Church's  his- 
tory its  chief  and  melancholy  interest.  This  period,  from 
about  six  years  after  Mr.  Hooker's  death  to  about  four  years 
before  the  death  of  Mr.  Stone,  or  from  1654  to  1659  inclu- 
sive, is  remembered  mainly  for  a  quarrel  in  the  Hartford 
Church,  of  such  virulence,  contagiousness,  and  publicity,  that 
it  attracted  the  attention  of  all  the  churches  in  New  England, 
and  occupies  a  large  place  in  every  history  of  early  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  in  this  country. 

Into  the  perplexing  and  prolonged  details  of  this  contro- 
versy it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to  enter  on  this  occasion 
with  any  minuteness,  though  I  have  elsewhere  endeavored  to 
follow  it  out  in  all  ascertainable  accuracy.  It  is  a  controversy 
which  Cotton  Mather  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull  and  Dr. 
Leonard  Bacon  have  all  spoken  of  as  obscure,  even  to  the 
point  of  being  almost  incomprehensible.  But  this  conclusion 
of  these  eminent  historians  I  am  convinced  was  owing  chiefly 
to  two  causes.  First,  a  generous  unwillingness  on  their  part 
to  recognize  the  largely  personal  element  in  the  controversy, 
arising  from  the  contact  and  conflict  of  the  two  very  pro- 
nounced individualities  of  Mr.  Goodwin  and  Mr.  Stone  ;  and 
second  and  mainly,  the  absence  from  their  knowledge  of  the 
contents  of  certain  documents  only  comparatively  recently 
discovered  and  published,  which  afford  help  in  the  solution  of 
the  trouble,  of  the  very  greatest  assistance. 

It  has  been  customary  in  the  attempts  which  have  been 
made  to  explain  this  unhappy  passage  in  the  Church's  history, 
to  ascribe  a  very  large  agency  in  it  to  the  agitation  of  the  ques- 
tions concerning  Baptism,  and  the  rights  of  children  of  bap- 
tized persons  who  were  not  communicants, — questions  which 
began,  certainly,  to  be  mooted  before  this  period,  and  which 
not  long  after  this  period  came  to  open  conflict,  resulting  in 
the  rupture  of  this  Church  in  1670.  But  it  may  well  be 
questioned  whether  the  influence  of  this  factor  in  the  quar- 
rel in  Stone's  day  has  not  been  very  much  exaggerated,  if 


57 

indeed  it  can  be  said  to  have  perceptibly  existed  at  all.  Not 
one  of  the  twenty-one  contemporaneous  documents,  of  various 
object  and  authorship,  among  the  newly  discovered  manu- 
scripts published  by  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society  in 
1870,  speaks  of  this  matter  of  Baptism  as  in  any  way  an 
issue  in  debate  ;  a  fact  utterly  impossible  to  account  for,  not 
to  say  utterly  impossible  in  itself,  had  the  rights  of  church- 
membership  based  on  Baptism  been  a  recognized  feature  of 
the  controversy.  And  even  a  careful  reading  of  the  historian 
Trumbull,  who  wrote  in  ignorance  of  these  much-illuminating 
papers,  will  show  that  he  conceived  the  agitation  of  the  Bap- 
tism question  to  have  been  not  of  the  substance  of  the  quar- 
rel, but,  as  he  says,  a  matter  of  "  meanwhile,"  and  for  which 
certain  parties  "  took  this  opportunity." 

Believing  thus  that  any  treatment  of  the  quarrel  which 
resulted  in  Elder  Goodwin's  party  leaving  Hartford  for  Had- 
ley,  consistent  with  the  documents  in  the  case,  must  proceed 
substantially  independent  of  that  other  discussion  concerning 
baptismal  rights  which  to  some  extent  ran  parallel  with  this, 
continued  after  it,  and  finally  resulted  in  the  separation  of 
the  Second  Church  of  Hartford  from  the  First,  I  shall  here 
only  indicate  in  the  barest  way  what  sorts  of  events  they 
were  which  thus  turmoiled  the  peace,  not  only  of  this  Zion, 
but  involved  in  it,  all  our  New  England  Israel. 

All  accounts  agree  that  the  quarrel  commenced  in  an 
antagonism  between  Teaching  Elder  Stone  and  Ruling  Elder 
Goodwin.  There  is  a  high  degree  of  probability  that  its 
first  recognizable  point  of  outbreak,  and  perhaps  its  very 
occasion,  was  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Stone  to  allow  the  Church  to 
vote  on  Mr.  Michael  Wigglesworth's  "  fitness  for  office  in  ye 
church  of  Hartford,"  thus  infringing,  as  Mr.  Goodwin  claimed, 
on  the  "  rights  of  the  brotherhood." 

As  the  quarrel  progressed  it  was  attended  by  such  inci- 
dents as  these  :  the  indignant  resignation  of  his  office  by 
Mr.  Stone,  yet  his  after  resumption  of  its  functions  as  if 
he  had  not  resigned  ;  the  practical  deposition  of  Mr.  Good- 
win,  the   Ruling  Elder,   from  his  functions  by  the  Church's 


58 

choice  of  a  "moderator"  to  preside  in  its  meetings;  the 
withdrawal  of  Mr.  Goodwin  and  his  sympathizers  from  com- 
munion with  the  majority  who  adiiered  to  Mr.  Stone ;  the 
commencement  of  processes  of  discipline  by  the  Church 
against  the  withdrawing  party  for  so  doing ;  the  summons  of 
an  ecclesiastical  council,  composed  of  churches  of  this  colony 
and  of  New  Haven  ;  and  then  of  another  of  churches  of 
Massachusetts,  their  messengers  traveling  through  the  far 
wilderness,  before  whom  each  party  pleaded  its  case ;  pub- 
lic days  of  humiliation  and  prayer  appointed  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts churches  in  behalf  of  the  Hartford  Church  and  for 
the  success  of  the  council ;  the  interposition  of  the  General 
Court  with  repeated  well-meant  and  blundering  endeavors  at 
reconciliation  ;  the  aggravation  rather  than  the  healing  of 
the  strife  ;  the  final  review  of  the  whole  matter  and  "  Deter- 
mination "  thereupon  by  a  council  at  Boston,  after  a  ten  days' 
session,  in  September  and  October,  1659  ;  the  acceptance  of 
the  "  sentence  "  by  both  parties,  and  the  removal  of  Elder 
Goodwin  and  most  of  the  minority  party  to  Hadley, — these, 
in  the  rapidest  and  most  meager  outlines,  were  the  main 
features  of  the  first  great  quarrel  in  the  Hartford  Church.  It 
began,  probably,  so  far  as  anything  visible  was  a  beginning, 
in  a  question  of  personal  preference  for  a  pulpit  candidate  ; 
it  found  expression  in  a  dispute  touching  the  official  preroga- 
tive of  the  two  chief  officers  of  the  Church  ;  it  broadened 
out  as  it  went  into  a  controversy  concerning  the  claims  of  the 
brotherhood  and  the  rights  of  a  minority,  and  of  the  proper 
methods  of  securing  ecclesiastical  redress  when  those  rights 
were  infringed.  It  brought  up  many  interesting  questions 
of  Congregational  order,  but  the  personal  element  was  all 
along  the  baffling  and  potential  quantity. 

Mr.  Goodwin  was  a  very  able  and  reverend  man.  But  we 
remember  that  before  the  Church  left  Massachusetts  he  had 
been  reproved  in  open  court  for  his  "  unreverend  speech." 
And  it  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether  the  very  vigor  and 
pertinacity  with  which  he  exercised  what  he  regarded  as  the 
proper  functions  of  his  ruling  eldership,  was  not  one  of  the 


59 

most  persuasive  arguments  with  the  Church  for  never  appoint- 
ing another.     Certainly  another  never  was  appointed. 

Mr.  Stone,  too,  was  an  exceedingly  reverend  and  able  man. 
But  he  obviously  took  very  high  views  of  the  prerogatives  of 
his  office.  His  conception  of  ministerial  authority  belonged 
more  to  the  period  in  which  he  had  been  educated  in  Eng- 
land, than  to  the  new  era  into  which  he  had  come  in  New 
England.  His  own  graphic  expression,  "  A  speaking  aristo- 
cracy in  the  face  of  a  silent  democracy,"  is  the  felicitous 
phrase  which  sets  forth,  at  once,  the  view  he  took  of  church 
government,  and  the  source  of  all  his  woes.  On  the  whole, 
respecting  the  controversy  itself  which  turmoiled  the  Church 
so  long,  the  impartial  verdict  of  history  must  be  that,  spite 
of  many  irregularities  and  doubtless  a  good  deal  of  ill-temper 
on  both  sides,  the  general  weight  of  right  and  justice  was 
with  the  defeated  and  emigrating  minority. 

Mr.  Stone  survived  this  passage  in  his  experience  about 
four  years.  They  were  years  of  apparent  harmony  in  the 
Church  and  comfort  to  himself.  He  was  a  man  of  popular 
qualities  and  great  conversational  gifts,  but  he  was  also  a 
man  of  the  utmost  sincerity  and  devout  piety.  The  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow-townsmen  is  shown 
in  the  very  name  our  city  bears  ;  the  place  of  Mr.  Stone's 
birth  being  chosen,  rather  than  that  of  any  other  of  its 
founders,  as  the  name  of  the  new  home  in  the  wilderness. 
He  died  July  20,  1663,  at  the  same  age  as  his  more  illustrious 
companion.  Hooker — sixty -one  years.  And  he  sleeps  beside 
him  in  the  old  cemetery. 

The  year  after  the  adjustment  of  the  long  quarrel,  and 
three  years  before  Mr.  Stone's  death,  an  associate  minister 
was  secured  for  him  in  the  charge  of  this  Church. 

Rev.  John  Whiting  was  ordained  colleague  with  Mr.  Stone, 
probably  in  1660.  He  was  the  son  of  Mr.  William  Whiting, 
an  early  settler  of  the  colony,  and  its  treasurer.  He  was 
born  in  England,  in  1635,  but  was  educated  at  Harvard, 
graduating  in  1653.  He  preached  a  while  at  Salem,  Mass., 
but  removed  to  Hartford  to  undertake  the  associate  work  of 
this  Church  of  his  childhood. 


6o 

During  the  three  years  of  Mr.  Stone's  survival,  after  Mr. 
Whiting's  coming,  the  new  minister  seems  to  have  performed 
the  largest  part  of  the  work  ;  but  at  Mr.  Stone's  death  the 
people  were  still  too  full  of  the  primitive  idea  of  a  dual  minis- 
try to  think  of  devolving  the  work  on  Mr.  Whiting  alone. 
Consequently,  almost  immediately  upon  the  death  of  the  old 
Teacher,  Rev.  Joseph  Haynes  was  invited  to  an  associate 
ministry  with  Rev.  John  Whiting. 

Mr,  Haynes,  like  Mr.  Whiting,  was  a  Hartford  man.  He 
was  the  son  of  Governor  John  Haynes  ;  was  born  about  1641, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1658.  He  began  his 
joint  ministry  with  Mr,  Whiting  some  time  in  1664. 

Here,  then,  were  two  young  men — Whiting  at  his  settle- 
ment was  twenty-five,  and  Haynes  at  his  settlement,  four 
years  later,  was  twenty-three — of  common  associations  and 
mutual  fellowships  in  town  and  college,  united  in  the  pastoral 
care  of  a  Church  which  was  the  mother  of  them  both.  What 
fairer  prospect  could  appear  for  a  happy  and  prolonged  asso- 
ciate ministry  ?  Nevertheless,  two  years  after  the  settlement 
of  the  younger  man,  we  find  the  two  Pastors  in  open  conflict, 
the  Church  divided  into  parties,  an  ecclesiastical  warfare  in 
lively  progress,  which  in  less  than  four  years  more  resulted 
in  the  permanent  rupture  of  the  body  known  as  the  Church 
of  Hartford  into  two  separate  religious  organizations. 

A  vivid  picture  of  one  scene  of  the  drama  in  June,  1666, 
just  when  the  sharper  phase  of  the  struggle  was  beginning, 
is  preserved  for  us  by  the  pen  of  Rev.  John  Davenport  of 
New  Haven. 

The  curtain  lifts  on  the  spectacle  of  "yong  Mr,  Heynes" 
sending  "  3  of  his  partie  to  tell  Mr.  Whiting  that  the  next 
lecture-day  he  would  preach  about  his  way  of  baptizing,  and 
would  begin  the  practicing  of  it  on  that  day."  Lecture-day 
came.  Mr.  Haynes  preached.  "Water  was  prepared  for 
Baptism,"  which  Mr.  Davenport  says,  "  was  never  adminis- 
tered in  a  weeke  day  in  that  church  before."  But  up  stood 
the  senior  Pastor,  Mr.  Whiting,  and,  "  as  his  place  and  duty 
required,  testifyed  against  it   and  refused  to  consent."     A 


6i 

wordy  contest  began.  Rev.  John  Warham  of  Windsor,  now 
an  old  man,  and  repentant  of  his  seven  years'  practice  of  the 
way  of  baptizing  which  he  now  repudiated,  was  present, 
probably  by  request  of  the  senior  Pastor,  Mr.  Whiting.  Pre- 
suming on  the  "  common  concernment  to  all  the  churches  " 
of  the  matter  in  debate,  he  attempted  to  speak,  but  was 
"  rudely  hindered "  by  the  exclamation,  "  What  hath  Mr. 
Warham  to  do  to  speake  in  our  church  matters."  The  meet- 
ing apparently  broke  up  in  disorder,  but  was  followed  by  a 
challenge  from  the  younger  to  the  older  Pastor  for  a  public 
"  dispute  about  it  with  Mr.  Whiting  the  next  Lecture  day," — 
an  ecclesiastical  contest  which  probably  came  off  according 
to  programme,  as  Mr.  Davenport  says  it  was  "  agreed  upon," 
but  of  which  no  account  remains  to  us. 

This  contest  between  Mr.  Whiting  and  Mr.  Haynes  about 
baptism  was  only  an  incident  in  a  general  conflict  of  opinion 
and  behavior  in  the  New  England  churches  at  large,  about 
this  period.  The  subject  can  only  be  treated  of  on  this 
occasion  in  the  briefest  manner. 

The  original  theory  upon  which  the  churches  were  gathered 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  the  personal  regenerate 
character  of  the  membership.  "  Visible  saints  only  are  fit 
Matter  appointed  by  God  to  make  up  a  visible  Church  of 
Christ,"  was  the  language  of  Mr.  Hooker,  which  may  be 
said  to  express  the  generally  accepted  view  of  the  primitive 
New  England  churches.  But  this  view  of  the  only  proper 
constituency  of  the  Christian  Church,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  very  vigorous  tests  of  personal  experience  which 
were  deemed  necessary  to  mark  "visible  saints,"  left  a 
considerable  number  of  people  of  good  moral  character, 
and  some  of  real  piety,  outside  any  church  fellowship,  and 
destitute  of  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  a  minister,  whom 
nevertheless  they  were  legally  bound  to  support.  And 
it  left  a  growing  body  of  young  people  in  every  com- 
munity who,  having  been  baptized  in  infancy,  were  accounted 
in  a  manner  church-members,  but  lacking  the  criteria  of 
conscious    regeneration,    were    deprived     not     only    of    an 


62 

invitation  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  of  the  privilege  of 
presenting  their  children  for  baptism.  The  difficulty  was  a 
two-fold  one,  having  reference  to  adult  people  never  "  con- 
federated "  into  the  churches  of  New  England,  yet  bound  to 
support  their  ministers,  and  to  the  children  of  "  confederating 
parents "  who  came  to  years  of  maturity  and  parenthood 
without  the  experiences  which  were  regarded  necessary  to 
full  participation  in  church  privileges. 

Quite  a  number  of  the  ministers  of  early  New  England 
foresaw  trouble  on  this  point  and  were  disposed  to  take  such 
a  view  of  the  church,  and  of  the  relationship  of  baptized 
persons  to  the  church,  as  would  meet  at  least  that  part  of 
the  difficulty  which  was  experienced  by  parents  who,  having 
been  themselves  baptized  but  not  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  desired  baptism  for  their  children.  So  early  as  1634 
the  church  of  Boston,  under  the  lead  of  John  Cotton, 
advised  the  church  of  Dorchester  that  a  grandfather  might 
claim  baptism  for  a  grandchild,  although  the  intermediate 
parents  were  not  received  into  church  covenant, — a  posi- 
tion, however,  which  Mr.  Hooker  in  his  Survey  distinctly 
repudiates.  And  it  appears  to  be  in  evidence  that  the  Ipswich 
church,  in  1655,  put  on  record  a  declaration  that  the  children 
of  adult  parents  "  not  scandalous  "  taking  the  covenant,  should 
have  their  children  baptized.  The  Dorchester  church  took 
similar  action  the  same  year.  Salem,  under  the  lead  of  Mr. 
Norris,  debated  and  conceded  the  principle  (though  appar- 
ently delaying  the  practice)  a  year  or  two  earlier  still. 

Connecticut  cannot  therefore  be  charged  with  originating 
the  new  departure  in  enlarging  the  scope  of  baptism,  although 
the  earliest  motion  for  an  authoritative  statement  upon  the 
subject  did  come  from  this  colony.  The  matter  was  in  the 
air.  And  the  turmoiled  condition  of  the  Hartford  Church, 
owing  to  the  long  quarrel  between  its  officers,  made  this 
question  all  the  more  ready  to  arise.  As  Dr.  Benjamin 
Trumbull  says,  "  numbers  of  them  took  this  opportunity  to 
introduce  into  the  Assembly  a  list  of  grievances  on  account 
of  their  being  denied  their  just  rights  and  privileges  by  the 


63 

ministers  and  churches."  The  ever  ready  General  Court 
listened  to  the  appeal.  In  February,  1656,  it  appointed  Mr. 
Warham  of  Windsor,  Mr,  Stone  of  Hartford,  Mr.  Blinman 
of  New  London,  and  Mr.  Russell  of  Wethersfield,  delegates 
to  a  ministerial  assembly  called  by  Massachusetts  at  Boston 
to  consider  twenty-one  questions  concerning  the  matters  in 
debate.  The  session  of  the  ministers  began  June  4,  1657, 
and  continued  a  fortnight.  The  answers  they  gave  to  Con- 
necticut's twenty-one  questions  were  a  substantial  endorse- 
ment of  the  claim  to  baptism  and  so  to  church-membership, 
of  all  children  of  baptized  parents  "not  scandalous"  who 
themselves  "  own  the  covenant."  This  virtually  carried  with 
it  the  conclusion  of  the  right  of  all  baptized  persons  to  vote 
for  the  minister,  and  was  so  far  an  acceptance  of  the  "parish 
way  "  of  Old  England  against  the  church  way  of  New  Eng- 
land. The  findings  of  the  ministers  were  reported  by  Mr. 
Stone  to  the  General  Court  in  August,  1657,  and  by  the 
Court  commended  to  the  consideration  of  the  churches.  Mr. 
Warham  and  the  Windsor  church  began  the  practice  of  half- 
way covenant  baptism  the  31st  of  January  following,  but 
gave  it  up  in  March,  1665. 

Nevertheless  the  churches  generally  were  slow  to  accept 
the  change.  The  agitation  however  continued,  and  the 
Synod  of  1662  was  called  in  view  of  it.  Neither  Connecticut 
nor  New  Haven  Colonies  were  represented  in  this  Massachu- 
setts Synod  of  1662,  but  it  ratified  by  a  vote  of  more  than 
seven  to  one  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  answer  given  to 
the  tenth  of  the  Connecticut  Questions  by  the  Ministerial 
Assembly  of  1657  ;  thus  setting  the  endorsement  of  a  Synod 
of  the  Churches  to  what  is  known  as  the  Half- Way  Cove- 
nant. 

Encouraged  by  this  sanction  and  discouraged  by  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Hartford  Church  and  other  churches  in  this 
Colony,  an  appeal  to  the  General  Court  was  made  in  October, 
1664,  by  Mr.  William  Pitkin  (a  very  able,  and,  there  is  ample 
evidence,  a  sincere  and  godly  man)  and  several  others,  which 
was  in  effect  a  claim  that,  having  been  baptized  members  of 


64 

the  English  National  Church,  they  ought  to  be  accounted  on 
that  basis  and  without  further  qualifications  members  of  the 
local  New  England  churches  where  they  resided.  The  appeal 
met  with  sympathy.  The  Court  responded  with  an  intima- 
tion of  readiness  to  order  the  churches  so  to  practice  "  if 
they  doe  not  practice  without  such  order."  It  was  in  effect 
an  explicit  notice  to  the  churches  that  the  Government  was 
in  favor  of  the  parish  way,  or,  as  it  had  begun  to  be  called, 
the  "Presbyterian  way"  of  a  State  Church,  rather  than  the 
way  of  Robinson  and  Hooker. 

It  is  at  about  this  point  that  John  Davenport  lifts  the 
curtain  on  the  Thursday  lecture-day  scene  I  spoke  of  a  few 
minutes  ago.  Up  to  this  time,  as  Mr.  Davenport  declares, 
"the  most  of  the  churches  in  this  jurisdiction"  were  strong 
on  the  old  platform  of  a  church  consisting  of  "  visible  saints  " 
only,  and  of  baptism  administered  only  to  children  of  those 
in  full  communion.  But  the  tide  was  against  them,  or  against 
the  principle  on  which  they  stood.  For  years  the  influence 
from  over  the  water  at  home  had  been  adverse.  Presbyte- 
rianism  had  beaten  Independency  in  England,  and  had  suc- 
ceed to  about  all  the  "  largeness  "  of  Episcopacy,  till  itself 
had  been  superseded  by  a  re-established  Episcopal  National 
Church. 

"  Yong  Mr.  Heynes  "  and  his  party  for  Synodical  authority, 
the  "  parish-way"  and  "large  baptism  "  were  obviously  in  the 
ascendency.  Yet  the  minority  could  have  no  ecclesiastical 
relief.  The  law  of  March,  1658,  forbidding  all  separate 
church  assemblies  (enacted  to  defeat  Elder  Goodwin's  with- 
drawing party  in  the  old  quarrel  with  Mr.  Stone)  was  still  in 
force,  and  held  Mr.  Whiting  and  those  who  adhered  to  the 
anti-sy nodical,  early-congregational  way,  in  subjection  to  it. 
The  Church  and  the  colony  were  in  a  turmoil.  The  ever 
meddlesome  General  Court  adopted  several  ineffectual  expe- 
dients of  redress,  wearing  out  in  the  process  two  or  three 
uneasy  years.  In  May,  1669,  however,  apparently  at  last 
despairing  of  settling  doctrinal  questions  by  "orders"  and 
"disputes,"  the  Court  passed  a  resolve  giving  permission  to 


65 

all  persons  "  approved  according  to  law  and  sound  in  the 
fundamentalls  of  the  Christian  religion,"  to  "have  allowance 
of  their  perswasion  and  profession  in  church  wayes."  The 
immediate  effect  of  this  action,  though  the  Court  had  no 
sympathy  with  their  views,  was  to  open  a  way  of  escape  from 
their  embarrassment  to  Mr.  Whiting  and  his  minority  party 
in  the  Hartford  Church.  On  the  22d  of  February,  1670,  he 
and  thirty-one  members  of  this  Church  with  their  families 
withdrew,  and  formed  themselves  by  the  advice  of  council 
into  the  Second  Church  of  Hartford.  The  platform  of 
principles  they  adopted  is  a  striking  and  vigorous  statement 
of  original  Congregationalism,  in  opposition  to  the  synodical 
or  Presbyterianizing  tendency  of  the  time.  It  was  a  noble 
and  timely  utterance.  But  it  significantly  illustrates  how  in 
the  process  of  a  controversy  the  watchwords  and  the  stress 
of  battle  often  change,  that  the  new  church  which  went  off 
from  the  old  as  the  representative  of  old  Congregationalism 
began,  on  the  very  day  of  its  organization,  to  practice  half- 
way covenant  baptism.  The  original  question  at  issue  had 
been  the  relation  to  the  church  of  those  who,  having  been 
baptized  in  infancy  or  in  England,  desired  a  voice  in  church 
action  and  a  part  in  church  privileges.  It  came,  in  the  six 
years  of  struggle,  to  be  a  question  of,  relatively,  almost  a 
theoretic  interest,  concerning  synodical  authority  and  self- 
government.  The  tide  oji  the  baptism  question  was  too 
strong  for  any  party  to  resist.  Its  original  opponents 
abandoned  even  the  attempt.  Mr.  Whiting  continued  the 
honored  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  till  his  death  in  1689. 
The  separation  into  two  societies  involved  of  course  an  altera- 
tion on  the  way  of  defraying  ecclesiastical  expenses,  all  hav- 
ing previously  been  done  by  town  vote. 

Left  in  charge  of  this  Church  Mr.  Haynes  remained  its 
sole  minister.  Apparently  the  experience  of  the  Church  had 
satisfied  it  with  the  trial  of  the  dual  pastorate.  It  did  not 
repeat  the  experiment  for  a  hundred  and  ninety-two  years. 

Committed  to  the  half-way  covenant  principle,  inclined 
to  favor  "large  Congregationalism"  and  synodical  super- 
9 


66 

vision,  the  old  Church  swung  with  the  general  drift  of  the 
tide  at  that  day.  Mr.  Haynes  ministered  to  it  till,  at  the 
still  early  age  of  thirty-eight  years,  he  died  May  24,  1679, 
having  served  the  Church  fifteen  years;  four  in  connection 
with  Mr.  Whiting,  and  eleven  as  sole  Pastor.  He  was  buried 
beside  his  father,  the  honored  governor  of  the  colony,  and 
beside  Hooker  and  Stone,  the  ministers  of  his  boyhood  and 
youth. 

Mr.  Haynes  was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate,  some  time 
late  in  1679  or  early  in  1680,  by  Isaac  Foster.  In  the 
historical  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Hawes  on  June  26,  1836, 
two  hundred  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Newtown  Church 
on  its  present  soil,  the  preacher  says  of  Isaac  Foster:  "The 
late  Dr.  Strong  remarks  of  him,  that  'he  was  eminent  for 
piety  and  died  young.'  "  Dr.  Hawes  adds :  "  This  is  the  only 
record  that  remains  of  him,  and  places  him  among  the  just 
whose  memory  is  blessed." 

Fortunately  the  developments  of  time  enable  us  to  ascer- 
tain a  little  more  fully  the  facts  of  Mr.  Foster's  story;  though, 
as  his  pastorate  was  short  and  uneventful,  they  must  be  shut 
up  here  into  the  narrowest  compass.  Has  was  born,  proba- 
bly in  1652,  son  of  Captain  William  Foster  of  Charlestown, 
Mass.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1671,  and  in  the 
autumn  following  was  captured  by  the  Turks  while  on  a 
voyage  with  his  father  to  Bilboa.  Ransomed  from  captivity 
in  1673,  he  held  a  fellowship  for  some  years  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege, where  his  eminent  gifts  attracted  toward  him  the  notice 
of  several  churches.  Overtures  were  made  to  him  in  behalf 
of  the  churches  of  Charlestown  and  of  Barnstable,  Massachu- 
setts. These,  for  one  reason  or  another  failing,  he  was,  in 
January,  1679,  sounded  respecting  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of 
our  neighboring  church  of  Windsor.  A  curious  corre- 
spondence remains  between  Rev.  John  Whiting  of  the 
Second  Church  here,  and  Increase  Mather  of  Boston,  the 
object  of  which  on  Mr.  Whiting's  part  was  to  find  out  how 
Mr.  Foster  stood  on  the  questions  which  had  so  recently 
divided  the  Hartford  Church.     The  correspondence  cannot 


^7 

be  quoted  here,  but  it  plainly  appears  that  the  art  of  finding 
out  how  a  man  stands  on  the  main  theological  issues  of  his 
time  has  not  made  much  progress  since  1679.  Mr.  Foster 
had  all  the  wise  caution  of  a  modern  candidate  for  a  pulpit  in 
a  pretty  evenly  divided  community,  yet  on  the  whole  leaned 
to  the  "large  congregational"  side.  The  church  at  Windsor, 
however,  called  him  after  hearing  him  preach,  and  did  it 
with  enthusiasm.  The  matter  there,  nevertheless,  fell 
through.  It  fell  through,  moreover,  in  curious  coincidence 
with  the  vacancy  in  the  First  Hartford  Church,  caused  just 
at  that  time  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Haynes.  It  seems  probable 
that  the  leaning  of  the  Windsor  church  toward  the  stricter 
Congregational  party,  and  especially  Mr.  Foster's  candidature 
in  a  man  Pier  under  the  surveillance  of  Mr.  Whiting  and  others 
representing  that  party,  may  not  have  been  altogether  accepta- 
ble to  the  undoubtedly  "  pious  "  but  obviously  politic  young 
minister;  so  that  as  a  fact  the  call  to  the,  just  then,  stricter 
Congregational  church  of  Windsor  was  negatived,  and  a  call 
to  the  more  "Presbyterially"  inclined  Church  of  Hartford 
was  accepted;  and  Mr.  Whiting  had  him — instead  of  a  neigh- 
bor six  miles  off — a  townsman  next  door.  Just  when  he 
was  invited  here,  or  when  he  came,  cannot  be  told,  all 
church  records  up  to  this  period  having  vanished.  But  his 
ministry  was  short.  He  died  August  21,  1682,  in  one  of 
those  epidemical  sicknesses  with  which  early  Hartford  seems 
to  have  been  so  often  afflicted. 

Mr.  Bradstreet  of  New  London,  records  in  his  journal: 
"  He  was  aged  about  thirty,  a  man  of  good  Abilyties.  His 
death  has  made  such  a  breach  yt  it  will  not  easily  be  made 
up." 

The  young  Pastor  lies  with  his  predecessors.  The  slab 
above  him  records  at  once  his  own  burial  place,  and  that  of 
his  successor ;  a  successor  who  not  only  took  his  office  but 
married  his  widow,  and  so  he  vanished  from  among  men. 

The  successor  who  thus  doubly  came  after  Mr.  Foster  was 
Rev,  Timothy  Wood  bridge.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
John  Woodbridge  (himself  son  of  a  clergyman  of  the  same 


68 

name),  who  was  ordained  pastor  at  Andover,  Mass.,  October 
24,  1645  ;  but  returning  to  England  became  minister  of 
Barford  St.  Martins  in  Wiltshire,  where  his  son  Timothy  was 
baptized,  January  13,  1656.  Ejected  from  his  parish,  however, 
at  the  Episcopal  restoration,  he  returned  to  America  in  1663, 
and  became  an  associate  with  his  uncle,  Thomas  Parker,  in 
the  ministry  at  Newbury.  Of  young  Timothy,  who  was  seven 
years  old  on  his  father's  return  to  America,  nothing  beyond 
his  baptism  is  known  till  his  graduation  at  Harvard  College 
in  1675.  Then  follow  eight  years  of  considerable  obscurity 
respecting  him,  till  he  appears  at  Hartford  in  1683,  supplying 
the  pulpit  "of  the  first  church  and  congregation  formerly 
under  Mr.  Isaac  Foster's  ministry."  He  was  not,  however, 
ordained  in  the  ministry  here  till  November  18,  1685.  With 
Mr.  Woodbridge  the  records  of  Church  and  Society  first  begin, 
all  previous  documents  distinctly  belonging  to  them  having 
disappeared. 

The  time  at  which  Mr.  Woodbridge  entered  on  his  ministry 
was  a  rather  gloomy  one.  The  demoralizing  influence  of  the 
wars  with  the  Indians  where  the  Indians  were  hostile,  and  of 
intercourse  with  the  Indians  where  they  were  friendly,  was 
visible  on  every  side.  The  operation  of  the  half-way  covenant 
was  becoming  manifest.  The  churches  were  becoming  filled 
with  people  sufficiently  religious  to  be  church-members  and 
impart  church-membership  to  their  children,  but  not  religious 
enough  to  profess  or  to  have  any  personal  experiences  of 
repentance  or  faith  or  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  Sins  of 
drunkenness  and  licentiousness  were  astonishingly  prevalent 
in  a  community  only  a  few  years  previous  marked  by  devoutest 
manners  and  sternest  principles.  It  was  in  1683,  the  first 
year  of  Mr.  Woodbridge's  preaching  at  Hartford,  that  Samuel 
Stone,  the  son  of  the  honored  former  Teacher  of  this  Church, 
and  himself  having  been  a  "preacher  some  years  with  general 
acceptance,"  after  a  day  spent  "  first  at  one  and  then  at 
another  taverne,"  fell  into  the  Little  river  and  was  drowned. 
The  general  political  disturbances  which  attended  the  death 
of  the  profligate  King  Charles^  the  accession  of  James  II 


[6g 

the  same  year  Mr,  Woodbridge  was  installed  Pastor;  the 
arrival  of  Androsln  Boston  in  1686,  and  in  Hartford  in  1687; 
the  excitement  attending  and  following  the  hiding  of  the 
Charter;  the  English  revolution  and  the  accession  of  William 
and  Mary,  and  declaration  of  war  between  England  and 
France,  were  all  unfavorable  to  the  prevalence  of  order  and 
piety  in  the  town  and  in  the  colony.  Meantime  it  is  appar- 
ent from  various  sources  that  more  than  the  usual  severity  of 
flood  and  storm  and  disease  and  scantiness  of  harvest,  marked 
a  protracted  period  of  time,  so  that  the  twenty  concluding 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  among  the  darkest  of 
New  England  history. 

In  the  midst  of  this  prevalent  depressed  state  of  religion, 
it  is  in  evidence  that  the  ministers  of  this  and  other  colonies 
made  earnest  efforts  to  stay  the  general  tide.  In  response 
to  the  recommendations  of  the  Reforming  Synod  of  1679,  and 
to  recommendations  of  the  General  Court,  and  to  deep  convic- 
tions of  their  own,  they  labored,  if  not  with  fully  illuminated, 
certainly  with  sincere  endeavor  to  reform  morals  and  increase 
godliness.  Something  we  need  not  hesitate  to  call  revivals 
of  religion,  however  imperfect  the  standard  of  estimate,  from 
time  to  time  appear.  Such  an  experience  came  to  this  Hart- 
ford Church  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1695-6. 

It  was  at  an  hour  of  general  alarm  on  account  of  Indian 
disturbances  a  little  way  up  the  river.  The  crops  of  the 
previous  season  had  been  cut  off.  The  community  was  under 
unusual  religious  impression.  The  result  is  seen  on  the  Church 
records.  Between  February  23,  1696,  and  April  5th  of  the 
same  year,  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  persons,  an  equal 
number  of  either  sex,  gave  assent  to  the  convenant.  It  is, 
however,  a  significant  commentary  on  the  imperfection, 
perhaps  of  the  reviving  itself,  and  certainly  of  the  religious 
system  under  which  it  took  place,  that  on  Sunday  following 
the  last  above  mentioned,  when  those  admitted  to  "full 
communion"  as  the  fruits  of  this  winter's  awakening  were 
received,  there  were  but  twelve. 

Six  deacons  appear  to  have  been  elected  to  office  in  Mr. 


70 

Woodbridge's  pastorate,  three  in  169T,  and  three  in  1712. 
The  election  of  the  first  three  was  apparently  a  matter  of 
much  deliberation.  On  March  11,  1686,  the  names  of  five 
persons  were  "  proposed  to  ye  church  and  left  to  their 
consideration."  But  action  was  not  taken  till  April  23,  1691, 
when  "Paul  Peck,  Senr.,  Joseph  Easton,  and  Joseph  Olm- 
stead  were  chosen  Deacons."  No  record  of  formalities  about 
the  choice  of  John  Sheldon,  John  Shepard,  and  Thomas 
Richards  remains. 

As  early  as  1694  the  people  on  the  east  side  of  the  Con- 
necticut River  petitioned  the  Court  to  have  the  "  liberty  of  a 
minister  "  among  themselves.  The  request,  acceded  to  by 
the  Court,  was  rather  grudgingly  allowed  by  the  Old  Church 
on  condition  that  "  all  the  land  on  the  east  that  belongs  to 
any  of  the  people  on  the  west  side  shall  pay  to  the  minis- 
try of  the  west  side,  and  that  all  the  land  of  the  west  side 
shall  pay  to  the  ministry  of  the  west  side,  though  it  belongs 
to  the  people  of  the  east  side."  Some  controversy  and 
trouble  ensued.  But  time  at  last  adjusted  differences,  and 
March  30,  1705,  saw  the  ordination  of  Rev.  Samuel  Wood- 
bridge,  a  nephew  of  Timothy  of  the  First  Church,  over  the 
church  of  East  Hartford.  The  date  of  the  church  organiza- 
tion, as  a  body  ecclesiastically  separate  from  the  parent 
Church,  it  seems  impossible  exactly  to  determine.  Less  fric- 
tion appears  to  have  attended  the  setting  off  of  the  West 
Hartford  church  and  society,  which  events  occurred  with  a 
good  degree  of  amicableness  in  171 3. 

Mr.  Woodbridge  was  a  man  of  large  frame  and  strong 
constitution,  but  he  appears  to  have  been  absent  nearly  two 
years  from  Hartford  as  an  invalid  in  Boston  between  1701 
and  1703.  Several,  and  some  of  them  rather  pathetic 
endeavors  "  to  condole  with  Mr.  Woodbridg  under  the  sor- 
rowful sircumstances,"  appear  on  the  Society  records.  Mean- 
time the  pulpit  was  supplied  "  att  Thirty  Shillings  ye  Sabath" 
by  Ephraim  Woodbridge,  a  nephew  of  the  pastor,  and  by 
John  Read  and  Nathaniel  Hubbard,  afterward  distinguished 
lawyers  in  Massachusetts,  who  both  appear  to  have  tried 
preaching  before  settling  down  to  law. 


71 

There  is  ample  evidence  that  Mr.  Woodbridge  occupied  a 
prominent  position  as  a  minister  in  the  colony.  Concerning 
the  two  most  considerable  episodes  of  his  life  which  illustrate 
this  fact  there  cannot,  however,  on  the  present  occasion  be 
afforded  space  to  go  into  any  detail.  Respecting  the  former 
of  these  passages  of  his  history — his  agency  in  the  founding 
of  Yale  College  and  his  controversy  respecting  its  location, 
— only  this  can  here  be  said  : 

Mr.  Woodbridge  was  one  of  the  "  ten  principal  ministers 
of  the  colony"  nominated  as  "Trustees  or  Undertakers  .  . 
to  found,  erect,  and  govern  a  college."  The  old  story  of 
these  men  meeting  in  Branford  in  the  year  1700,  and  laying 
a  number  of  books  upon  the  table,  saying,  "  I  give  these 
books  for  the  founding  of  a  College  Library  in  the  Colony," 
is  familiar  to  all.  But  Mr.  Woodbridge,  in  sympathy  with 
Mr.  Buckingham  of  the  Second  Church,  who  became  Trustee 
in  17 1 5,  and  in  sympathy  doubtless  with  most  of  the  people 
in  this  northern  part  of  the  colony,  wanted  the  permanent 
abode  of  the  college,  which  had  maintained  hitherto  a  rather 
divided  and  peripatetic  existence  at  Saybrook  and  Killing- 
worth,  and  Milford  and  Wethersfield,  to  be  fixed  at  the  last 
named,  neighboring  place.  And  perhaps  the  most  dramatic 
incident  of  Mr.  Woodbridge's  whole  history,  may  be  found 
in  that  passage  of  it,  when,  having  in  various  ways  voted, 
remonstrated,  and  labored  against  the  location  of  the  college 
at  New  Haven,  he  presided  at  a  rival  commencement  at 
Wethersfield,  in  defiance  of  the  plain  votes  of  the  Trustees, 
and  of  the  General  Assembly,  fixing  the  college  at  the  former 
place.  The  occurrence  is  too  pictorial  not  to  claim  expres- 
sion in  President  Clap's  own  statement  of  it.  After  describ- 
ing the  "  Splendid  Commencement  at  New  Haven,"  on  Sep- 
tember 18,  1718;  the  dignity  of  the  personages  present,  and 
the  elegance  of  the  "Latin  Oration"  with  which  "the  Hon- 
orable Governor  Saltoiistall  was  pleased  to  Grace  and  Crown 
the  whole  Solemnity,"  he  goes  on  to  say  that  on  the  same 
day,  "  Something  like  a  Commencement  was  carried  on  at 
Wethersfield  before   a   large   Number   of   Spectators ;    five 


72 

Scholars  who  were  originally  of  the  Class  which  now  took 
their  Degrees  at  New  Haven  performed  publick  exercises  ; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Woodbridge  acted  as  Moderator,  and  he  and 
Mr.  Buckingham,  and  other  Ministers  present  signed  Certifi- 
cates that  they  judged  them  worthy  of  the  Degree  of  Batch- 
elor  of  Arts ;  these  Mr.  Woodbridge  delivered  to  them  in  a 
formal  Manner  in  the  Meeting-House,  which  was  commonly 
taken  and  represented  as  giving  them  their  Degrees."  The 
town  of  Hartford  sympathized  with  its  ministers  in  their 
rather  excited  and  irregular  proceedings,  and  elected  Mr. 
Woodbridge  and  Mr.  Buckingham  the  following  year,  repre- 
sentatives to  the  Assembly.  Mr.  Woodbridge  prayed  at  the 
opening  of  the  session  on  the  14th  of  May,  but  on  the  i8th 
his  seat  was  challenged  on  account  of  his  alleged  charging 
the  "  Honorable  the  Governor  and  Council  "  in  the  college 
affair  "with  breach  of  the  6th  and  8th  commandments." 
The  Lower  House  voted  at  first  to  exclude  him  from  his 
seat,  but  subsequently  acquitted  him  of  blame.  Just  how 
the  matter  eventuated  in  the  Upper  House  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. Mr.  Woodbridge  afterward  became  reconciled  to 
the  location  of  the  college  at  New  Haven,  was  Rector  pro 
tempore  at  the  Commencement  in  1723,  and  a  Trustee  while 
he  lived. 

Coincident  in  point  of  time  with  most  of  Mr.  Woodbridge's 
earlier  labors  for  the  college,  was  his  activity  in  originating 
and  maintaining  the  Consociational  System  established  by 
the  adoption  of  the  Saybrook  platform  in  1708.  The  move- 
ment for  this  system  originated,  naturally  enough,  with  the 
trustees  of  the  college,  who  were  about  the  only  ministers  of 
the  scattered  churches  of  the  colony  to  be  brought  by  any 
public  duties  statedly  together;  but  it  was  the  result  of  -pre- 
liminary discussion  in  the  constituent  county  bodies,  and  of 
the  consultation  of  their  regularly  elected  delegates ;  so  that 
there  seems  no  valid  ground  for  the  suggestion  which  has 
been  made,  that  the  body  convened  at  Saybrook  in  Septem- 
ber, 1708,  was  not  a  perfectly  fair  and  fully  representative 
body  of  the  forty  churches  of  Connecticut. 


n 

Among  the  Hartford  county  delegates  to  this  Synod  was 
Timothy  Woodbridge,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  John 
Haynes,  one  of  its  members,  son  of  its  former  Pastor. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  present  discourse  it  is  unnecessary 
to  express  any  judgment  as  to  the  merits  of  the  Saybrook 
Ecclesiastical  Constitution.  The  system,  bad  or  good,  con- 
tinued the  legally  recognized  one  in  the  State  till  1784,  and 
remained  the  voluntarily  accepted  method  of  the  majority  of 
the  churches  much  longer.  In  this  Church,  whose  Pastor 
and  delegate  had  some  hand  in  its  devising,  it  continued 
operative  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  years  ;  and  its  operation 
was  such  as  to  incline  another  eminent  Pastor  to  say,  at  the 
one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  meeting  under  the  Say- 
brook  Constitution,  "the  First  Church  of  Hartford  is  a  con- 
sociated  church,  and  such  I  trust  it  will  ever  remain." 

The  system  thus  set  in  working,  Mr.  Woodbridge  energet- 
ically supported.  Of  the  local  county  Association,  organized 
under  the  system,  he  was  generally  moderator  till  his  death. 
That  event  occurred,  after  a  period  of  some  months  of  disa- 
blement, on  April  30,  1732,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years 
and  six  months;  after  his  having  served  the  Church  in  a  min- 
isterial capacity  forty-eight  years  and  eight  months ;  having 
being  for  forty-six  years  and  three  months  its  ordained  Pastor. 
Three  hundred  and  sixteen  persons  were  admitted  to  full 
communion,  and  four  hundred  and  seventy-eight  owned  the 
covenant  in  Mr.  Woodbridge's  ministry. 

Mr.  Woodbridge  left  two  extant  specimens  of  his  pulpit 
powers,  an  Election  Sermon  preached  May,  1724,  and  a  Sing- 
ing Lecture  preached  at  East  Hartford  in  June,  1727. 

His  own  funeral  eulogium  was  spoken  in  an  election  ser- 
mon, eleven  days  after  his  death,  by  his  neighbor  and  friend, 
the  aged  Timothy  Edwards  of  East  Windsor,  son  of  Richard 
Edwards  of  this  Church,  and  concludes  with  the  declaration, 
which  there  is,  perhaps,  no  considerable  occasion  to  modify, 
"  that  he  was  one  of  the  choicest  and  greatest  men  that  has 
ever  appeared  among  us  in  these  parts  of  the  country." 

Two  days  after  the  death  of  Woodbridge,  and  on  the  even- 


74 

ing  of  his  funeral,  measures  were  taken  by  the  Society  of 
this  Church  "  to  treat  with  Mr.  Daniel  Wadsworth  respecting 
his  settling  in  the  work  of  the  ministry."  Mr.  Wadsworth 
had  already  sometime  preached  in  the  later  weeks  of  Mr. 
Woodbridge's  incapacity,  and  the  result  of  overtures  to  him 
was  that  on  the  28th  of  September,  1732,  he  was  ordained 
as  Pastor.  The  procedures  on  the  occasion  he  has  himself 
inscribed  on  the  church  record  as  follows :  "  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitman  of  Farmington,  began  with  prayer,  and  preached 
a  sermon  from  Matt,  xxiv,  45.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards  of 
East  Windsor  made  a  prayer,  and  gave  ye  charge.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Marsh  of  Windsor  made  ye  next  prayer.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Colton  of  West  Hartford  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship." 

The  new  pastor  thus  set  in  place  in  the  twenty-eighth  year 
of  his  age,  was  born  at  Farmington,  November  14,  1704,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1726,  in  the  same  class  with 
Elnathan  Whitman  (son  of  his  old  pastor  at  Farmington  who 
preached  at  his  ordination)  who  was  soon  to  be  his  associate 
in  the  Hartford  ministry  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Church. 

The  occasion  of  the  new  ministry  seems  to  have  been  laid 
hold  of  by  the  Society  for  the  revival  of  the  already  much 
debated  question  of  a  new  meeting-house.  Into  the  long- 
struggle  over  the  location  of  this  edifice  and  the  story  of  its 
erection,  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  here  to  enter,  the  division 
of  labor  on  this  occasion  assigning  the  whole  matter  to 
another  hand.  For  the  present  it  must  suffice  for  me  to  say 
that  the  affair,  wrangled  over  for  years,  was  at  last  happily 
ended,  and  a  new  meeting-house,  standing  sidewise  to  the 
street,  substantially  on  the  spot  where  we  now  are,  took  the 
place  of  the  old  edifice  in  Meeting-House  Yard,  which  had 
been  used  from  near  the  planting  of  the  settlement. 

The  house  was  dedicated  December  18,  1739;  the  sermon 
preached  by  the  Pastor  on  the  occasion  from  Haggai  ii,  9, 
The  glory  of  this  latter  hoitse  shall  be  greater  than  tJie  former, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  being  published,  and  affording  us 
our  only  surviving  specimen  of  Mr.  Wadsworth's  pulpit 
powers,  which  seem  to  have  been  of  a  respectable,  though 
certainly  not  of  a  commanding  order. 


75 

The  institution  of  this  pastorate  brought  also  to  an  issue, 
in  the  slow,  conservative  way  which  had  already  become 
characteristic  of  the  First  Church,  the  very  live  question  of 
that  day,  whether  to  sing  "  by  ear  "  or  "  by  rule."  The  ser- 
vice of  song  had  been  now  for  considerable  period  a  matter 
of  discord  in  many  senses.  Music  for  more  than  a  genera- 
tion past  (owing  to  the  introduction  of  the  Bay  Psalm  Book, 
having  no  musical  notes,  in  the  place  of  Ainsworth's  or  Stern- 
hold  and  Hopkins',  which  had  the  musical  score)  had  become  a 
matter  of  memory  and  varying  tradition.  Direct  instruction 
was  wanting  ;  instrumental  -accompaniments  disallowed  ;  so 
that  singing  came  to  the  pass  of  utter  poverty  and  confusion. 
Tunes  called  by  the  same  name  were  scarcely  recognized  in 
places  a  few  miles  apart.  Some  congregations  did  not 
attempt  more  than  three  or  four. 

The  effort  to  amend  matters  about  the  first  quarter  of 
the  eighteenth  century  met  with  violent  opposition.  Many 
congregations  almost  split  on  the  question.  The  innovation 
was  denounced  as  an  insult  to  the  memory  of  the  fathers, 
and  as  tending  to  Papacy.  "  If  we  once  begin  to  sing  by 
note,  the  next  thing  will  be  to  pray  by  rule,  and  then  comes 
Popery."  The  interposition  of  the  General  Court  was  in 
some  instances  necessary  to  quiet  disturbances  arising  from 
the  proposal  to  sing  "  by  rule," 

In  this  Hartford  Church  the  matter  took  a  characteristic 
course.  The  old  Pastor,  Mr.  Woodbridge,  wanted  the  reforma- 
tion and  preached  a  Singing  Lecture,  as  has  been  men- 
tio'ned,  by  request  of  the  Association  at  East  Hartford  in 
June,  1727,  in  its  behalf.  He  also,  as  Moderator  of  the 
General  Association,  put  his  signature  to  a  paper  read  to  that 
body  on  May  12th  of  the  same  year,  by  Rev.  N.  Chauncey 
of  Durham,  and  published  by  its  order,  entitled  "  Regular 
Singing  Defended  and  Proved  to  be  the  Only  True  Way  of 
Singing  the  Songs  of  the  Lord." 

But  the  old  Pastor  died  without  the  sight  of  the  change  he 
advocated. 

With  the  coming  of  Mr.  Wadsworth,  however,  enthusiasm 


y6 

enough  was  enkindled  to  induce  the  Society  on  the  20th  of 
June,  1733,  to  take  this  cautious  and  tentative  action : 
"  Voted  and  agreed,  that  after  the  expiration  of  three  months, 
singing  by  Rule  shall  be  admitted  to  be  practiced  in  the  con- 
gregation of  this  Society,  and  until  their  Annual  Meeting  in 
December  next ;  &  that  then  a  Vote  be  Taken  whether  the 
Society  will  further  proceed  in  that  way  or  otherwise."  The 
two  leaders  of  the  opposing  methods  were  then  designated 
"  to  take  on  them  the  care  of  setting  the  Psalm  "  for  the 
periods  specified  ;  "  Mr.  William  Goodwin  as  usuall,"  and 
"  Mr.  Joseph  Gilbert,  jr.,  after  the  Expiration  of  the  three 
months."  Tried  thus  prudently  for  four  months,  the  Society 
saw  its  way  in  December  to  vote  "  that  singing  by  Rule  be 
admitted  and  practiced  in  the  congregation  of  this  Society," 
and  Mr.  Gilbert  was  empowered  "  to  sett  the  psalm," 

The  favorable  issue  of  the  singing  controversy,  and 
especially  of  the  meeting-house  struggle,  must  have  been 
very  welcome  to  Mr.  Wadsworth  and  the  more  spiritual  por- 
tion of  his  people.  These  years  of  controversy  were  natu- 
rally years  of  barrenness.  Meantime  while  Hartford  Church 
was  quarreling  over  its  location  only  so  far  away  as  Windsor 
a  remarkable  revival  had  taken  place  under  the  ministry  of 
Rev.  Jonathan  Marsh.  The  year  1735,  just  in  the  thick  of 
the  meeting-house  conflict,  was  the  year  of  the  great  revival 
under  Jonathan  Edwards  at  Northampton.  It  was,  however, 
the  year  1740,  just  after  the  entrance  on  the  new  house  of 
worship,  which  is  commonly  taken  as  the  commencement  of 
that  religious  movement  in  New  England  known  as  the 
Great  Awakening.  It  was  this  year  that  George  White- 
field  made  his  first  preaching  tour  through  New  England. 
The  religious  condition  of  the  community  was  eminently 
favorable  for  Mr.  Whitefield's  success.  His  youth,  his  elo- 
quence, his  peculiar  position  as  an  Episcopal  minister  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Puritans, 
attracted  universal  attention  and  good  will.  No  such  general 
prostration  of  a  community  before  one  man,  and  he  only 
a  young  gospel  preacher,  was  ever  known  before,  and  none 


77 

has  been  known  since.  He  left  Northampton  Sunday  even- 
ing, October  19th,  accompanied  by  Jonathan  Edwards  as 
far  as  the  house  of  Jonathan's  father,  Rev.  Timothy,  at 
East  Windsor,  preaching  at  Westfield  and  Springfield  and 
Suffield  on  the  way.  On  the  afternoon  of  October  21st 
he  preached  at  East  Windsor,  and  there  Jonathan  Edwards 
gently  remonstrated  with  him  about  his  denouncing  the 
ministers;  his  practice  of  "judging  other  persons  to  be 
unconverted  ;"  and  the  large  place  he  accorded  to  "visions" 
and  other  similar  results  of  religious  excitement.  Next  day, 
Monday,  October  22d,  he  was  here  at  Hartford,  preaching  in 
the  new  meeting-house,  doubtless,  to  an  audience  which  he 
describes  in  his  customary  exaggerated  way,  as  "  many 
thousands."  Thence  by  Wethersfield,  Middletown,  and 
Wallingford,  he  went  preaching  to  New  Haven  and  so  to 
New  York.  Some  measure  of  benefit  seems  to  have  accom- 
panied or  followed  Mr.  Whitefield's  transit  through  Hartford. 
The  records  of  this  Church  show  an  accession  of  twenty-five 
to  its  "  full  communion  "  membership,  and  of  eleven  to  its 
"  Covenant"  in  the  twelve  months  succeeding.  The  records 
of  the  Second  Church  at  this  date  are  lost.  The  church  in 
West  Hartford  gained  forty-five,  but  whether  all  to  its  "com- 
munion "  I  am  unable  to  say. 

These  certainly  do  not  seem  large  results  for  the  great 
year  of  the  Great  Awakening.  And  large  or  small,  they 
were  attended  and  followed  by  some  features  which  made  all 
the  ministers  of  Hartford,  and  most  of  the  Hartford  local 
Association,  unite  on  February  5,  1745,  over  their  individ- 
ual signatures,  in  a  public  printed  "  Testimony  against  Mr. 
Whitefield  and  his  conduct,"  and  a  solemn  "  warning  and 
caution  "  to  their  people  not  to  hear  him  on  his  proposed 
second  transit  through  New  England.  This  declaration  was 
followed  by  another  of  a  like  character,  five  months  later, 
issued  by  the  General  Association  over  the  hand  of  Benjamin 
Colton  of  West  Hartford,  Moderator,  and  Elnathan  Whitman 
of  the  Second  Church,  Scribe. 

Why  was  this  ?     And  why  was  the  very  awakening  which 


78 

in  its  general  result  so  blessed  Connecticut,  and  blesses  it  to 
this  day,  the  occasion  for  a  sharp  conflict  of  feeling  and 
judgment  among  the  ministers  and  the  churches  ?  The 
reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  acutely 
remarked,  "the  Whitefield  of  history  is  not  exactly  the 
Whitefield  of  popular  tradition."  It  is  so.  The  real  White- 
field  of  the  pilgrimage  of  1740  was  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
five,  of  burning  eloquence  and  impassioned  piety,  but  censo- 
rious, denunciative,  and  lending  all  the  weight  of  his 
tremendous  popular  influence  to  the  encouragement  of 
fanatic  extravagances  of  experience  and  expression  in  his 
converts  and  followers.  Whosoever  hesitated  at  any  of  his 
measures  was  pronounced  unconverted  and  carnal.  In  spite 
of  the  wise  and  loving  caution  of  Jonathan  Edwards  at  East 
Windsor  he  preached,  three  days  after,  at  New  Haven — and 
of  all  congregations  to  a  congregation  of  students— on  the 
"dreadful  ill  consequences  of  an  unconverted  ministry." 

But  all  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  own  extravagances  of  speech 
might  have  been  forgotten  had  it  not  been  for  the  actions  of 
his  followers.  Many  of  these,  ordained  ministers,  either 
having  no  proper  charge  or  forsaking  it,  went  through  the 
colony  at  their  own  will,  encouraging  discontent  with  the 
settled  ministry,  and  promulgating  crude  and  erroneous  tests 
of  piety  and  the  means  of  attaining  it.  A  numerous  crop 
of  lay  exhorters  rose  in  the  churches,  professing  infallible 
ability  to  discern  spirits,  especially  the  spirits  of  ministers, 
and  passing  sudden  and  damnatory  judgment  on  all  who  dif- 
fered from  them. 

These  excesses  became  so  great  as  to  attract  in  some 
instances  the  attention  of  the  civil  authorities.  One  con- 
spicuous case  of  this  kind,  which  cannot  be  detailed  at  any 
length,  is  here  adverted  to  only  because  of  a  certain  dramatic 
connection  with  the  church  edifice  of  this  Society.  Rev. 
James  Davenport  of  Southold,  L.  I.,  was  one  of  the  most 
accepted  favorites  and  followers  of  Whitefield,  who  pronounced 
him  "  nearest  to  God  "  of  any  man  he  had  known.  He  was 
a  man  of  a  wild  sort  of  eloquence,  and  wherever  he  went 


79 

created  great  excitement.  Arrested  on  a  warrant  from  the 
General  Court,  together  with  Rev.  Benjamin  Pomroy,  on  a 
charge  of  inflaming  the  congregations  he  addressed,  largely 
of  children  and  youth,  with  doctrines  subversive  of  all  law 
and  order,  he  was  brought  before  the  Assembly  at  Hartford 
on  June  i,  1742,  about  eighteen  months  after  Mr.  White- 
field's  transit  through  the  place.  His  trial  took  place  in  the 
meeting-house  of  this  Society,  and  lasted  two  days.  The 
town  was  in  a  state  of  excitement  bordering  on  tumult.  The 
partisans  on  either  side  rushed  together  to  support  or  to  over- 
bar  the  sheriff".  Again  and  again  it  seemed  as  if  the  prisoners 
would  be  rescued  from  his  custody.  The  night  between  the 
two  days  was  little  short  of  a  riot.  In  the  morning  the  mili- 
tia were  ordered  out  to  suppress  disorder.  The  Assembly 
adjudged  Mr.  Davenport  to  be  "disturbed  in  the  rational 
faculties  of  his  mind,"  and  thus  less  responsible  than  he 
otherwise  might  be,  and  directed  that  he  be  sent  out  of  the 
colony.  And  so,  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Mr. 
Davenport  was  marched  "  between  two  files  of  musketiers  " 
from  the  meeting-house  down  to  Connecticut  river,  and  put 
aboard  a  boat  for  his  home. 

All  these  things  show  the  intensity  of  feeling  connected 
with  the  Great  Awakening  period,  and  the  reasons,  to  some 
extent,  which  made  the  Hartford  ministers,  and  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  ministers  of  Connecticut  generally,  disfavor  a 
second  Whitefieldian  pilgrimage.  But  for  so  doing  they 
were  stigmatized  as  Old  Lights,  Formalists,  Arminians,  incul- 
cators  of  "  mere  heathen  morality,"  and  careless  of  the  souls 
of  men.  Some  of  Mr.  Whitman's  hearers  deserted  his  con- 
gregation in  favor  of  more  spiritual  instruction.  There  was 
really  no  just  ground  for  such  accusation.  The  charges  were 
easy  to  make.  They  are  in  substance  made  in  almost  any 
,^revival  period  when  any  one  dissents  from  the  counsels  of 
the  most  fervid  promoters  of  any  of  its  methods.  They  have 
in  effect  been  made  in  very  recent  days. 

Possibly  a  larger  share  of  benefit  might  have  come  to  this 
community  had  this  Church  and   its  immediate  neighbors 


8o 

thrown  themselves  more  into  the  line  with  Wheelock  and 
Pomeroy,  and  Bellamy,  and  even  somewhat  more  generously 
tolerated  Davenport.  Possibly  also,  not.  Anyway  this  com- 
munity was  spared  the  ecclesiastical  scandals  which  separated 
churches  and  dishonored  religion  in  some  parts  of  the  State  / 
where  freer  scope  was  given  to  the  new  measures  of  the  new 
men. 

But  right  or  wrong,  Mr.  Wadsworth's  part  in  influencing 
religious  affairs  was  soon  afterward  ended.  He  died  Novem- 
ber 12,  1747,  lacking  two  days  of  forty-three  years  of  age; 
having  filled  a  pastoral  term  of  fifteen  years  and  two  months. 
He  sleeps  with  his  ministerial  forerunners  in  the  old  grave 
yard. 

Ninety-nine  persons  were  admitted  to  "full  communion," 
and  seventy-four  to  "  covenant  "  during  his  ministry. 

Rev.  Edward  Dorr  succeeded  to  the  pastorate  April  27, 
1748,  after  having  preached  a  considerable  period  during  Mr. 
Wadsworth's  disability.  Mr.  Dorr  was  born  at  Lyme,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1722.  He  united  with  the  church  in  Lyme,  June  7, 
1 74 1,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Parsons,  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  able  of  Connecticut's  ministers  in  the 
era  of  the  Great  Awakening.  He  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege in  the  class  of  1742,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
New  Haven  Association,  May  29,  1744.  Before  coming  to 
Hartford  he  preached  more  than  two  years  at  Kensington, 
in  the  midst  of  a  church  and  society  controversy,  unnecessary 
here  to  relate.  The  elaborate  and  repeatedly  modified  mon- 
etary negotiations  recorded  on  the  books  of  our  Society  prior 
to  his  settlement,  significantly  indicate  the  unsettled  condi- 
tion of  financial  affairs  at  the  period,  consequent  largely  on  the 
colonial  indebtedness  in  the  repeated  wars  with  the  Indians 
and  the  French.  Mr.  Dorr  followed  the  example  of  his  pre- 
decessor by  recording  on  the  Church  book  the  procedure  at 
his  ordination.  "The  Rev'd  Mr.  Bissell  [of  Wintonbury] 
began  with  prayer,  ye  Rev'd  Mr.  Whitman  [of  Second  Church] 
preach'd  a  Sermon  from  2  Cor.  4,  5.  The  Rev'd  Mr.  Col- 
ton  [of  West  Hartford]  made  the  first  prayer.     Mr.  Whit- 


man  of  Farmington  gave  the  Charge.  Mr.  Steel  [of  Tol- 
land] made  the  second  prayer,  and  Mr.  Whitman  of  Hartford 
gave  the  right  hand  of  Fellowship.  Give  me  grace,  O  God, 
to  be  a  faithful,  and  make  me  a  successful  minister  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  E.  Dorr." 

The  period  of  Mr.  Dorr's  ministry  was  one  of  great  relig- 
ious declension,  which  lasted  with  slight  and  local  interrup- 
tions throughout  New  England  considerably  beyond  the 
period  of  his  pastorate. 

The  controversies  of  the  preceding  years,  growing  to  some 
extent  out  of  the  Whitefieldian  movement  ;  the  separations 
which  took  place  in  many  Connecticut  churches  ;  the  restive- 
ness  of  some  under  the  Saybrook  platform,  and  the  resolu- 
tion of  others  in  the  administration  of  the  discipline  estab- 
lished by  that  platform  ;  the  corrupting  effects  of  the  Indian 
and  French  wars,  and  the  absence,  however  accounted  for,  of 
those  divine  influences  which  seem  at  times  to  triumph  over 
all  obstacles, — all  combined  to  make  this  period  of  the  coun- 
try's history  one  of  general  monotony  and  discouragement. 
In  the  midst  of  this  comparatively  depressed  state  of  affairs, 
Mr.  Dorr  exercised  a  faithful  and  laborious  ministry.  One 
hundred  and  sixty-one  persons  "  owned  the  covenant,"  and 
fifty-three  were  admitted  to  full  communion,  during  the 
twenty-four  and  a  half  years  of  his  pastorate.  The  compari- 
son of  these  numbers  with  the  seventy-four  who  owned  the 
covenant  and  the  ninety-nine  who  were  admitted  to  full  com- 
munion in  the  fifteen  years  of  Mr.  Wadsworth's  ministry,  is 
significant.  Especially  significant  is  the  striking  alteration 
of  proportion  between  those  covenanting  and  those  commun- 
ing. It  is  plain  that  a  larger  and  larger  number  of  people 
were  contenting  themselves  with  such  a  merely  formal  assent 
to  the  gospel  as  carried  with  it  the  privileges  of  a  qualified 
church-membership,  but  implied  no  spiritual  change. 

Amid  this  general  state  of  public  anxiety  and  of  religious  de- 
pression, a  few  items  of  local  interest  may  be  gathered  up.  In 
1755  it  was  thought  necessary  to  enlarge  the  meeting-house, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  for  the  purpose,  but  the  mat- 


82 

ter  seemed  to  go  no  further.  The  need  could  not  have  been 
great.  All  the  inhabitants  in  Hartford  at  this  time,  includ- 
ing East  and  West  Hartford,  were  less  than  thirty-five  hund- 
red, and  there  were  four  meeting-houses.  In  1756  the 
Society  appointed  a  committee  to  inform  Mr.  Dorr  that  "this 
Society  are  desirous  that  Dr.  Watts'  Psalms  may  be  sung  in 
the  congregation  at  the  time  of  divine  worship  at  least  half 
,  ye  time."  A  good  deal  of  trouble  all  along  these  days  seems 
to  have  attended  the  always  vexatious  business  of  "  seating  " 
the  people.  In  the  year  1760  the  Society  took  a  new  course, 
and  "  voted  and  agreed  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  society 
for  the  future,  and  until  this  society  shall  order  otherwise, 
have  liberty  to  accommodate  themselves  with  seats  in  the 
meeting-house  at  their  discretion,  any  measures  this  society 
hath  heretofore  taken  for  seating  sd  house  notwithstanding." 
This  democratic  plan  did  not  long  suit,  however,  for  four 
years  later  the  Society  voted  to  "  new  seat  the  meeting-house 
in  the  common  and  usual  way  and  manner." 

Mr.  Dorr's  period  of  ministry  witnessed  also  the  first 
endeavor  to  plant  an  Episcopal  church  in  Hartford,  by  the 
preaching  of  Rev.  Thomas  Davies  in  1762.  The  events 
connected  with  that  endeavor  have  recently  been  narrated  in 
Mr.  C.  J.  Hoadly's  lately  published  and  admirable  sketch  of 
the  history  of  Christ  Church.  They  probably  attracted  the 
attention  of  Rev.  Mr.  Dorr  somewhat  more  warmly  because 
the  "  Sam  Talcott,"  who  seemed  to  be  the  most  troublesome 
Sanballat  of  the  new  movement,  was  a  "  covenant  "  member 
of  the  First  Church,  and  Mr.  Dorr's  brother-in-law.  Mr. 
Dorr's  own  attitude  on  the  question  of  Episcopal  separatism, 
as  well  as  separatism  of  other  kinds,  is  quite  discernible  to 
one  who  can  at  all  read  between  the  lines  in  his  election 
sermon  preached  in  1765,  in  which  he  said  :  "  I  readily  own 
that  every  establishment  of  a  religious  kind  should  be  upon 
the  most  generous  and  catholic  principles,  and  that  no  man 
or  set  of  men  should  be  excluded  frora  it  for  mere  specula- 
tive and  immaterial  points  ;  for  different  modes  and  cere- 
monies  Suffer  me  to  query  with  your  Honors,  zf/z^^/z^r 


83 

the  laws  in  this  Colony  made  for  the  support  of  religion  donU 
need  some  very  material  amendm,ent  ?  And  if  they  be  suffi- 
cient, whether  the  constjniction  put  upon  them  in  many  of  our 
executive  courts  hath  not  a  direct  and  natural  tendency  to 
undei'mine  and  sap  the  foundations  of  our  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution ? 

But  if  Mr.  Dorr  was  not  in  advance  of  his  time  on  the 
question  of  toleration  of  dissenters,  this  same  election  ser- 
mon shows  him  in  a  most  amiable  and  admirable  attitude  on 
the  question  of  the  treatment  of  the  Indians,  which  he  dis- 
cusses in  another  part  of  it.  His  views  on  this  latter  sub- 
ject, too  extended  to  quote  here,  are  as  well  worthy  of  con- 
sideration by  our  national  government  to-day,  as  they  were 
by  the  colonial  government  of   1765. 

Mr.  Dorr's  lot  was  cast  in  a  dull  time  of  our  ecclesiastical 
history  ;  he  was  cut  off  from  life  in  the  prime  of  his  strength, 
and  without  posterity  ;  but  the  tokens  that  survive  of  him 
give  him  not  only  a  fair  but  an  honorable  place  in  the  ministry 
of  this  Church.  He  died,  after  many  months  of  paralytic 
disability,  Oct.  20,  1772,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age.  Rev. 
Samuel  Whitman  of  the  Second  Church  preached  a  funeral 
discourse,  still  extant.  He  was  buried  beside  his  prede- 
cessors. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Dorr  the  Society  of  this  Church,  in 
December  of  the  same  year,  made  unsuccessful  overtures  to 
"  Mr.  Joseph  How  "  ;  doubtless  the  Joseph  Howe  who  was 
just  finishing  his  tutorship  at  Yale  College,  who  became 
pastor  of  the  New  South  Church  in  Boston,  and  who  died 
in  1775. 

The  next  attempt  was  more  successful,  and  resulted  in  the 
introduction  to  this  Church's  service  of  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  its  ministers, 

"^Mr.  Nathan  Strong  of  Coventry,"  was  invited  by  the 
Society  to  the  ministry  of  this  congregation,  June  4,  1773, 
and  was  ordained  to  the  pastorate  on  the  5th  of  January, 
1774;  the  sermon  on  the  occasion  being  preached  by  Rev. 
Nathan  Strong,  his  father,  from  2  Tim.   iv,  4:  "But  watch 


84 

thou  in  all  things ;  endure  afflictions ;  do  the  work  of  an 
evangelist ;  make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry !'  The  sermon 
was  published,  and  gives  token  that  the  religious  influence 
which  had  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  boyhood  and  youth 
of  the  young  minister,  under  his  father's  instruction,  must 
have  been  of  a  robustly  vigorous  kind.  The  Pastor  thus  set 
in  office  in  this  Church  was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  having 
been  born  Oct.  i6,  1748.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
the  class  of  1769,  having  among  his  associates  Timothy 
Dwight,  the  future  president  of  the  college,  and  receiving  at 
his  graduation  the  first  honor  of  the  occasion.  Mr.  Strong 
was  accustomed  to  refer  the  period  of  his  personal  spiritual 
renewal  to  his  early  life,  but  he  seems  not  at  first,  after 
graduating,  to  have  contemplated  the  ministry  as  a  profession, 
but  turned  his  attention  to  law.  In  1772  and  1773  he  was 
tutor  in  Yale  College  ;  during  which  time  he  devoted  himself 
to  theology,  and  received  overtures  to  the  pastorate  from 
several  churches.  President  Stiles  is  said  to  have  told  the 
committee  of  the  Hartford  Church,  when  applied  to  respect- 
ing the  tutor's  fitness  for  the  place,  that  "  he  was  the  most 
universal  scholar  he  ever  knew." 

The  period  of  the  institution  of  the  new  pastorate  was  a 
trying  one.  The  colonial  relationships  to  Great  Britain  were 
just  on  the  point  of  rupture,  and  the  feeble  confederacies  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  were  about  entering  on  a  protracted 
and  exhausting  war  with  that  then  recognizedly  chief 
belligerent  power  in  the  world.  Divisions  of  sentiment 
respecting,  not  only  the  details  of  the  struggle,  but  the  main 
aim  and  method  of  it,  divided  to  some  extent  every  com- 
munity, and  very  distinctly  that  of  Connecticut. 

At  the  same  time  the  condition  of  the  churches,  spiritually 
considered,  was  very  low.  The  half-way-covenant  sowing 
was  producing  its  natural  harvest.  There  were  only  fifteen 
male  members  in  full  communion  in  this  Church  when  Mr. 
Strong  was  set  in  pastoral  charge.  As  the  public  conflict 
progressed,  a  tide  of  infidelity  set  in  under  the  sympathetic 
influence  of  French  associations  in  the  war  for  Independence, 


85 

and  religion  became,  to  an  extent  unknown  before  or  since 
in  this  land,  a  matter  for  gibe  and  contempt. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs  Mr.  Strong  threw  himself  with 
great  energy  into  the  conflict  for  American  liberty.  He 
served  some  time  as  chaplain  to  the  troops.  He  wrote  and 
preached  in  support  of  the  patriotic  cause.  Especially  in 
the  later  political  discussions  connected  with  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Federal  constitution  he  published  a  series  of 
about  twenty  articles  intended  to  harmonize  public  opinion 
in  the  ratification  of  that  instrument.  It  was  not  probably 
at  all  on  account  of  his  ardent  advocacy  of  this  cause,  but  it 
was  certainly  appropriately  harmonious  with  it,  that  the  con- 
vention which  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  part  of  Connecticut,  was  held  in  the  meeting-house  of 
this  Society  in  1788. 

Meantime  the  earlier  period  of  Mr.  Strong's  ministry  can- 
not be  said  to  have  been  marked  by  tokens  of  spiritual  vigor. 
Perhaps  this  was,  in  the  nature  of  events,  impossible.  It 
may  be,  however,  that  Mr.  Strong  was  lacking  in  some  of 
those  deeper  convictions  which  distinguished  and  made  so 
powerful  his  later  ministry.  It  serves  perhaps  to  corrobo- 
rate this  impression,  to  know  that  in  a  considerable  part  of 
this  portion  of  his  life,  Mr.  Strong  was  engaged  extensively 
in  the  distillery  business,  with  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Reuben 
Smith.  The  records  of  Hartford  land-transfers  show  some 
twenty  deeds  of  real  estate  involving  thirty  or  forty  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  property,  bought  and  sold  by  the  partnership 
of  "Reuben  Smith  &  Co.,"  (Nathan  Strong's  name  how- 
ever generally  taking  the  priority  in  the  deeds  made  to  or 
by  the  partners)  between  1790  and  1796,  together  with 
their  vats,  stills,  and  cooper  shops,  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
enterprise.  The  venture  was  ultimately  unfortunate  from  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view,  and  in  October,  1798,  writs  of 
attachment  were  levied  against  the  property,  and,  in  default  of 
that,  against  the  bodies  of  Messrs.  Strong  and  Smith,  on  a 
judgment  against  them.  Mr.  Smith  prudently  took  himself 
to  New  York.     Mr.   Strong  remained  in  the  holise  he  had 


86 

built  (the  house  just  south  of  the  Athenaeum),  which  was 
attached  under  the  sheriff's  warrant.  It  is  said  that  the 
sheriff  proposed  to  take  Mr.  Strong  to  jail,  but  relented 
when  told  that  he  "  would  go  with  him  if  compelled,  but  if 
he  went  he  would  never  enter  the  pulpit  again." 

Whether  the  business  distress  which  began  to  press  upon 
Mr.  Strong  several  years  before  this  culminating  incident  of 
his  disaster,  had  any  causal  connection  with  an  altered  tone 
in  his  ministry  and  a  revived  condition  of  things  in  his 
Church,  it  is  perhaps  presumptuous  to  assert.  But  certain 
it  is  that  the  year  1794,  at  which  time  the  distillery  business 
had  broken  down  and  the  sale  of  effects  appertaining  to  it 
had  begun,  witnessed  the  first  indication  of  the  spiritual 
awakening  of  his  flock.  One  token  of  this  quickened 
religious  interest  remains  in  a  vote  of  the  Society,  Dec.  16, 
1794,  "to  light  the  meeting-house  for  evening  lectures"; 
this  being  probably  the  first  time  religious  meetings  were 
ever  held  in  any  public  building  belonging  to  this  Society  in 
the  evening.  This  earliest  period  of  awakening  was  followed 
in  1798  and  1799  by  a  prolonged  and  powerful  revival,  which 
wrought  a  great  change  in  the  religious  condition  of  the  con- 
gregation. During  its  progress  Mr.  Strong  published  a 
volume  of  sermons  of  a  character  eminently  fitted  to  awaken 
and  promote  a  quickening  of  evangelic  piety.  This  volume 
was  followed  by  another  in  1800,  dealing  with  aspects  of 
religious  truth  suited  to  confirm  and  strengthen  those  who 
had  been  brought  under  impression.  These  sermons,  together 
with  Mr.  Strong's  treatise  on  the  Compatibility  of  Eternal 
Misery  with  Infinite  Benevolence,  in  reply  to  a  volume — found 
after  his  decease  among  his  writings — of  Rev.  Dr.  Huntington 
of  Coventry,  show  great  acuteness  of  thought,  and  an  unusual 
vivacity  and  vigor  of  utterance.  Unlike  a  great  proportion 
of  the  sermons  of  that  time,  they  are  readable  and  might 
even  be  effectively  preached  to-day.  They  were  perhaps  the 
occasion  of  the  conferring  on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  by, the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  1801. 

No  man  more  than   Dr.  Strong:  contributed  to  the  revival 


87 

of  earnest  piety  which  marked  so  extensively  the  close  of 
the  last  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  present  in  this 
State.  In  1808,  and  again  shortly  before  his  death,  from 
1813  to  1815,  powerful  awakenings  in  his  congregation  bore 
witness  to  the  efficacy  of  the  truth  so  cogently  and  persua- 
sively preached  by  him.  Eighty-eight  persons  united  with 
the  Church  in  1808,  the  year  after  entering  on  the  new 
meeting-house;  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  joined  as 
the  result  of  the  revival  of  18 13-14.  It  is*  greatly  to  be 
regretted  that  the  perishing,  or,  more  probably,  the  non- 
creation  of  any  Church  records  (except  a  few  memoranda  by 
Mr.  Barzillai  Hudson,  long  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee) during  the  entire  period  of  Dr.  Strong's  ministry, 
makes  it  impossible  to  trace  precisely  who  they  were,  or  in 
what  numbers,  who  united  with  the  Church  at  any  epoch  of 
this  pastorate  previous  to  1808.  Especially  to  be  regretted 
is  it,  that  it  is  impossible  accurately  to  discover  the  working 
of  the  revival  spirit  upon  the  half-way-covenant  system  in 
this  Church  which  had  practiced  it  so  long.  It  is  doubtful 
if  that  system  was  ever  distinctly  abrogated  in  Dr.  Strong's 
day.  The  late  Thomas  S.  Williams  and  wife  both  owned 
the  covenant,  it  is  believed  in  his  time,  and  only  made  such 
a  profession  as  brought  them  into  the  Church's  full  com- 
munion in  1834,  in  the  days  of  his  successor. 

In  1799  Dr.  Strong  published,  in  connection  with  Rev. 
Joseph  Seward,  a  deacon  of  this  Church,  and  Rev.  Abel 
Flint,  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  the  volume  known  as  the 
"  Hartford  Selection  of  Hymns,"  which  attained  a  wide  cir- 
culation among  the  churches,  and  which  contained  some 
metrical  compositions  of  his  own.  These  have  been  praised, 
but  it  can  hardly  have  been  for  their  poetry. 

Not  the  least  of  Dr.  Strong's  services  to  this  Church  and 
to  the  churches  generally,  was  his  labor  in  behalf  of  Mis- 
sions. It  was  largely  his  interest  in  the  Connecticut  Mis- 
sionary Society,  formed  in  1798  for  the  purpose  of  sending 
missionaries  to  the  North  and  West,  and  of  which  society  he 
was  one  of  the  original  founders,  that  induced  him  to  project 


88 

and  in  part  to  edit,  and  for  a  time  largely  to  write,  the 
Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine.  This  monthly  periodical 
was  continued  for  fifteen  years.  The  number  of  copies  dur- 
ing the  first  five  years  averaged  3,730  annually.  The  net 
profits  were  paid  over  to  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society, 
which  received  from  this  source  $11,620. 

The  year  1807,  December  3d,  saw  the  entrance  of  this 
Society  into  this  house  of  worship  where  we  are  now  gathered, 
and  which  was  "generally  regarded  at  that  day,  and  as  such 
described  by  Dr.  Dwight  in  his  Travels,  as  a  masterpiece  of 
ecclesiastical  architecture.  Stoves  were  first  introduced  into 
this  edifice  the  year  before  Dr.  Strong  died,  181 5.  The 
pulpit,  the  height  of  which  it  is  said  was  first  determined  by 
Dr.  Strong,  was  lowered  two  feet  in  1816,  the  year  he  died, 
and  has  (incredible  as  it  may  seem)  been  lowered  three  times 
since. 

In  1802,  moved  by  the  renewed  sense  of  religious  things 
in  the  community,  the  Society  raised  a  fund  of  $4,709  by 
subscription,  to  be  put  on  interest  till  it  amounted  to  $7,000, 
then  forever  afterwards  to  be  "kept  entire"  for  the  "sup- 
port of  the  ministry  in  the  society."  The  names  of  the  sub- 
scribers are  entered  in  a  roll  of  honor  on  the  Society  records. 
This  fund  met  with  the  not  unusual  fate  of  such  funds  when 
the  donors  are  dead  and  a  society  gets  short  of  money,  as  we 
shall  presently  have  occasion  to  see. 

This  Bible,  presented  to  the  Church  by  Mr.  Rueben  Smith, 
Dr.  Strong's  partner  in  the  unfortunate  distillery  business, 
and  in  memory  of  Deacon  Solomon  Smith,  Dr.  Strong's 
father-in-law,  has  been  in  use  since  18 12. 

In  1814,  the  Church  entered  on  the  use  of  its  first  confer- 
ence room,  a  brick  edifice  erected  on  a  lot  of  ground,  thirty 
by  fifty  feet  in   dimension,  on  Theater,  now  Temple  street. 

Even  this  hasty  sketch  of  Dr.  Strong's  ministry  would  be 
culpable  did  it  not  refer  to  his  vast  power  of  social  influence 
and  his  unsurpassed  vivacity  and  wit.  The  sharpness  of  his 
repartee  often  stood  him  in  better  stead  than  arguments. 
Many  of  his  sallies  and  rejoinders  are  familiar  to  this  day  to 
people  of  this  community. 


89 

Dr.  Strong  had  his  full  share  of  trouble.  Beside  those  of 
a  financial  kind,  of  which  mention  has  been  made,  he  was 
called  on  to  bury  two  wives  and  a  son  (the  survivor  of  his 
second  wife  Anna  McCurdy),  who,  having  just  graduated  at 
Yale  College,  was  drowned  at  the  East  Hartford  ferry.  Dr. 
Strong  lived  a  widower  the  last  twenty-six  years  of  his  life. 

Negotiations  for  the  settlement  of  a  colleague  were  in  har- 
monious progress  between  the  Pastor  and  the  Society  when 
death  intervened.  Dr.  Strong  died  December  25,  18 16,  in  the 
sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  forty-third  of  his  min- 
istry. He  was  the  first  of  this  Church's  Pastors  to  be  buried 
elsewhere  than  in  the  old  ground  behind  the  church.  His 
mortal  part  lies  in  the  North  Cemetery.  His  face  and 
figure  still  survive  in  the  living  memory  of  a  few  among  us, 
and  his  name  must  ever  be  honored  in  the  annals  of  this 
place. 

The  names  of  George  Burgess,  Heman  Humphrey,  and 
especially  Eleazer  T.  Fitch,  bring  us  to  what  seem  modern 
times.  All  preached  here  during  the  months  following  Dr. 
Strong's  decease,  but  to  none  was  extended  a  formal  call. 

Sunday,  the  28th  of  September,  18 17,  saw  in  the  pulpit  of 
this  Church,  for  the  first  time,  a  tall,  awkward  man  of  a  little 
over  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  who  was  destined  to  fill  the 
second  longest  term  of  pastoral  service  in  the  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  its  history  hitherto.  A  member  of  this  Church, 
now  deceased,  who  well  knew  Dr.  Strong,  narrated  to  me  his 
vivid  impressions  of  that  Sabbath  and  the  sharp  contrast  he 
felt  between  the  courtly  and  dignified  bearing  of  the  pastor 
of  his  youth,  and  the  ungainly,  impulsive,  red-bandannad 
occupant  of  his  place.  But  he  truthfully  added  the  reproof 
administered  to  him  by  a  pious  old  aunt  to  whom  he  ventured 
to  suggest  some  of  his  feelings :  "  Remember  my  words,  that 
is  to  be  a  very  remarkable  man." 

Joel  Hawes,  one  of  this  Church's  and  Connecticut's  most 
eminently  useful  ministers,  was  born  at  Me^M2^  Massachu- 
setts, December  22,  1789.     His  youth  was  passed  amid  asso- 
ciations not  very  congenial  to  scholarly  tastes  or  even  favora- 
12 


90 

ble  to  mental  improvement.  It  was  at  about  eighteen  years 
of  age,  and  while  engaged  in  serving  a  period  in  a  cloth- 
dressing  establishment  that  he  experienced  his  first  strong 
spiritual  impressions,  almost  for  the  first  time  read  the  Bible, 
and  became  experimentally  a  Christian.  He  made  confes- 
sion of  his  faith  by  uniting  with  the  church  in  Medway,  the 
first  Sunday  in  May,  1808,  being  at  that  time  also  baptized. 
Studying  a  while  in  private,  under  the  tuition  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Crane  of  Northbridge,  he  entered  Brown  University  in  Sep- 
tember, 1809.  He  worked  his  way  through  college,  teaching 
school  in  winter,  but  by  indefatigable  industry  and  labor 
graduated  September  i,  18 13,  second  in  rank  in  his  class. 
He  entered  Andover  Seminary  in  1813  ;  dropped  out  a  year 
to  teach  in  Phillips    Academy,  and    graduated    September, 

1 817.  He  had  been  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Essex  Middle 
Association  on  May  13th  previous,  and  followed  his  licensure 
by  preaching  several  Sabbaths  for  Rev.  Dr.  Dana  of  New- 
buryport.  Measures  looking  to  his  call  to  the  pastorate  in 
connection  with  Dr.  Dana  were  in  progress  when  he  was 
invited  to  preach  at  this  First  Church  in  Hartford.  He 
came  here  on  the  Saturday  following  his  graduation,  and 
preached  his  first  sermon  here  on  the  succeeding  Sunday. 
After  trial  of  his  gifts  for  ten  Sabbaths,  a  call  was  extended 
to  him  by  the  Church  and  Society,  and  on  the  4th  of  March, 

18 1 8,  he  was  ordained  Pastor,  being  the  tenth  in  the  minis- 
terial succession  of  the  pastoral  line^  In  the  public  service 
of  the  ordination  Prof.  Fitch  of  Yale  College  offered  the 
Introductory  Prayer;  Dr.  Woods  preached  the  Sermon,  which 
was  afterwards  published,  from  Heb.  xiii,  17;  Dr.  Nathan 
Perkins  of  West  Hartford,  offered  the  Ordaining  Prayer ; 
Mr.  Rowland  of  Windsor,  gave  the  Charge;  Dr.  Abel  Flint 
of  the  Second  Church  extended  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellow- 
ship, and  Rev,  Samuel  Goodrich  of  Berlin,  made  the  conclud- 
ing prayer. 

With  the  induction  of  Mr.  Hawes  into  the  pastorate,  a 
period  is  reached  where  the  thronging  memories  of  some 
present,  and  of  more  and  more  in  its  later  portions,  will  out- 


^.^a 


91 

run  and  outnumber  any  utterances  of  the  speaker.  All  the 
more  needful,  therefore,  will  it  be  for  him  to  confine  himself 
to  the  main  facts  of  the  Church  life,  with  small  references  as 
possible  to  personal  biography. 

Dr.  Strong  had  certainly  been  a  very  able  and  in  most  of 
his  ministry  a  very  devout  and  useful  minister;  but  many 
things  in  Church  and  Society  affairs  were  left  by  him  at 
strangely  loose  ends. 

Dr.  Hawes  writes  in  the  first  year  of  the  new  pastorate : 
"  Our  Jerusalem  is  all  in  ruins.  .  .  .  No  church  records  ;  no 
accounts  to  tell  me  who  are  members  and  who  not  ;  what 
children  have  been  baptized  and  what  not;  .  .  .  many  irreg- 
ular members,  some  timid  ones,  and  I  fear  but  few  who  would 
favor  a  thorough  reformation."  The  new  Pastor  threw  himself 
into  his  work  with  energy  and  success.  Records  began  to  be 
kept  in  the  Church,  unkept  or  most  imperfectly  kept  for 
forty-five  years.  A  Prudential  Committee,  the  first  in  the 
church's  history,  was  appointed  in  1821,  to  "aid  the  Pastor 
in  promoting  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  Church,  and  in  the 
maintenance  of  gospel  discipline,"  which  last  portion  of  their 
functions  there  is  ample  evidence  they  entered  on  with  vigor. 

The  same  year  the  new  pastorate  was  established,  marks  the 
beginning  of  Sunday-school  work  in  Hartford.  The  "  Sunday- 
School  Society"  was  organized  on  the  5th  of  May,  1818, 
Rev.  Abel  Flint  of  the  Second  Church  being  President,  and 
Mr.  Hawes  one  of  the  directors.  Four  schools  were  formed 
with  special  reference  to  the  four  then  existing  religious 
societies  in  the  place,-^the  First  and  Second  Congregational, 
Christ  Church,  and  the  First  Baptist, — but  all  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Union  Society.  Tiiis  arrangement  con- 
tinued, however,  only  about  two  years,  when  each  society 
took  the  management  of  the  Sunday-school  work  into  its  own 
hands. 

With  another  action,  to  which  the  Church  was  persuaded 
about  this  time,  we  may  or  may  not  perhaps  as  fully  sympa- 
thize. The  new  Pastor  had  just  come  from  Andover,  where 
the  battle  lines  of  the  Unitarian  controversy  were  set  in 


92 

sharply  hostile  array.  And  he  stigmatized  the  covenant  of 
the  Church  here  as  "  a  covenant  and  confession  of  faith  con- 
tained in  just  ten  Arminian  lines."  That  covenant,  which, 
with  slight  verbal  change,  had  been  in  use  in  this  Church  cer- 
tainly more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter,  and  perhaps  from 
the  beginning,  reads  as  follows : 

"  You  do  now  solemnly,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  of 
these  witnesses,  receive  God  in  Christ  to  be  your  God,  one 
God  in  three  persons,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost.  You  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  word  of  God, 
and  promise  by  divine  grace  to  make  them  the  rule  of  your 
life  and  conversation.  You  own  yourself  to  be  by  nature  a 
child  of  wrath,  and  declare  that  your  only  hope  of  mercy  is 
through  the  merits  and  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
you  now  publicly  profess  to  take  for  your  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King  ;  and  you  now  give  up  yourself  to  Him  to  be  ruled, 
governed,  and  eternally  saved.  You  promise  by  divine  grace 
regularly  to  attend  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  (as  God 
may  give  you  light  and  opportunity),  and  to  submit  to  the 
rule  of  the  government  of  Christ  in  this  church." 

Just  where  the  "  Arminianism "  comes  into  this  old  for- 
mula, to  which  so  many  generations  had  given  assent  in  the 
most  solemn  transaction  of  their  lives,  it  is  hard  to  tell.  But 
the  Church  yielded  to  the  Pastor's  desire,  and  on  the  29th  of 
July,  1822,  adopted  a  long,  many-articled  confession  of  faith, 
which,  with  slight  and  unimportant  modifications,  continues 
in  use  to  this  day. 

But  revivals  of  religion  occurred  and  marked  the  epoch  of 
this  ministry  as  none  in  the  history  of  the  Church  had  been 
marked  before.  One  in  18 19  brought  in  six  young  men  from 
the  mechanic's  workshop,  four  of  whom  shortly  began  to 
study  for  the  ministry,  one  of  whom,  Rev.  A.  Gleason,  still 
lives. 

One  in  1820-21  pervaded  the  entire  region,  brought  into 
the  Hartford  County  Associated  churches  more  than  a  thou- 
sand converts,  and  added  to  this  Church  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight ;  three  of  whom  are    members   with  us  to-day. 


93 

Rev.  Lyman  Beecher  of  Litchfield  assisted  the  Pastor  in 
this  revival  and  greatly  contributed  to  its  success. 

In  1826  was  another  time  of  refreshing  in  this  region,  and 
saw  as  its  fruits  fifty-four  joined  to  this  communion. 

In  1 83 1  was  tried  the  experiment  of  a  "  protracted "  or 
"four-days'"  meeting,  it  is  said  for  the  first  time  in  Connec- 
ticut, in  union  with  the  Second  and  North  Churches.  Fifty 
persons  joined  this  Church  as  its  consequence. 

In  1834  an  important  religious  awakening  occurred,  which 
brought  into  this  Church  many  heads  of  families  and  men  of 
influence  in  the  community  hitherto  unreached.  The  Pastor 
was  aided  at  this  period  by  the  powerful  preaching  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Taylor  of  New  Haven.  Between  sixty  and  seventy  were, 
as  a  consequence,  added  to  the  fellowship.  The  year  1838 
brought  in  eighty. 

In  1 841  was  another  great  revival  in  this  region.  Rev. 
Mr.  Kirk,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  popular  eloquence  and 
evangelistic  fervor,  preached  in  many  of  the  Flartford 
churches  with  persuasive  power.  One  hundred  and  ten  per- 
sons were  added  to  the  Church  at  this  period.  More  than 
one  hundred  stood  up  at  one  time  in  this  aisle  to  confess 
their  new  faith.  The  revival  of  1852  brought  in  sixty-six, 
and  that  of  1858  fifty. 

Ten  periods  of  distinct  religious  awakening  occurred  during 
this  ministry,  and  there  were  added  to  the  Church  in  that 
space  of  time,  by  confession  of  faith,  ten  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  members. 

It  is  obvious  to  remark,  in  view  of  a  fact  like  this,  that  the 
ministry  of  this  eminent  Pastor  was  cast  in  a  period  more 
characterized  by  general  revival  influences  than  any  which 
had  gone  before  for  a  hundred  years,  or  that,  from  present 
signs,  seems  very  likely  soon  to  occur  again.  But  it  is 
equally  obvious  that  these  extraordinary  results  were  largely 
attributable  to  the  man  himself  who  was  in  this  pastorate  at 
that  period.  His  zeal,  his  wisdom,  his  perseverance,  his  pro- 
found convictions,  his  unmistakable  sincerity  and  devotion, 
were  powerful  and,  it  is  perfectly  proper  to  say,  indispensable 
elements  in  that  wonderful  series  of  awakenings. 


94 

It  was  itself  indicative  of  one  of  the  features  of  the 
Pastor's  character  which  gave  him  such  success  in  revival 
work,  that  Dr.  Hawes  preached,  in  1827,  that  course  of 
Lectures  to  Young  Men  which,  on  their  delivery  here  and  in 
New  Haven,  produced  so  profound  an  impression,  and  when 
published,  both  in  this  country  and  in  England  in  repeated 
editions,  wrought  a  still  wider  and  more  lasting  benefit. 

The  volume  may  seem  trite  now,  but  it  was  a  venture  into 
a  comparatively  fresh  and  untrodden  field  then,  and  aside 
from  any  higher  ends  attained  by  it,  it  made  appropriate  (cer- 
tainly as  such  things  go)  the  Doctorate  which  Mr.  Hawes 
received  from  the  college  of  his  youth. 

But  if  the  period  of  this  pastorate  was  one  of  large  acces- 
sions to  the  church,  it  was  also  one  of  large  colonizations 
from  it. 

On  the  23d  of  September,  1824,  ninety-seven  members 
received  dismission  from  this  Church,  and  were  organized  as 
the  North  Church. 

On  the  loth  of  January,  1832,  eighteen  members  were 
organized  with  others  as  the  Free,  now  the  Fourth  Church. 

On  the  14th  of  October,  1852,  thirty-six  members  of  this 
Church,  and  soon  after  eleven  more,  were  dismissed  to  unite 
with  others  in  forming  the  Pearl  Street  Church. 

On  the  5th  of  March,  1865,  forty  members  and  shortly 
after  eleven  more,  were  dismissed  to  unite  with  others  in 
forming  the  Asylum  Hill  Church. 

The  old  Church  was  a  quarry  out  of  which  everybody  was 
free  to  draw  the  living  stones  of  newer  temples.  It  gave 
liberally.  It  gave  men  and  it  gave  money.  It  was  eminently 
a  church-planting  and  missionary  Church. 

The  personal  interest  of  its  Pastor  in  the  larger  aspects 
of  missionary  work,  which  has  been  evidenced  among  other 
cogent  ways  in  his  giving  his  only  daughter  to  live,  and  as 
it  proved,  to  die  on  foreign  missionary  ground,  was  not  with- 
out result  in  training  the  congregation  to  large-minded  benefi- 
cence both  at  home  and  abroad. 

Meantime,  all  alongside  this  really  grand  record  of  churchly 


95 

prosperity  and  usefulness  ran  the  usuall  line  of  perplexing, 
amusing,  and  drudging  incidents.  Some  people  of  the  good 
old  Society  loved  its  privileges,  but  didn't  like  to  pay  for 
them.  And  so  every  year  or  two,  from  1823  to  1848,  votes 
appear  on  the  records  showing  difficulties  about  meeting 
expenses,  and  expedients  to  make  occupants  of  good  pews, 
of  an  economical  turn  of  mind,  contribute  a  due  proportion 
of  the  parish  costs.  An  Act  of  the  Legislature  in  the  latter 
year,  sought  and  secured  as  a  means  of  grace  to  such,  allow- 
ing the  taxation  of  pews  like  any  other  property,  seems  to 
have  been  the  effectual  call,  where  other  methods  failed. 

In  1830  the  Society  raised  the  question  of  the  possibility  of 
appropriating  something  to  help  the  Sunday-school ;  debated 
it,  doubted  its  legality,  appointed  a  committee  to  investigate 
the  novel  and  difficult  question,  had  a  divided  report  on  the 
issue,  thought  it  best  to  move  slowly,  and  in  1842  (twelve 
years  afterward),  hazarded  a  first  appropriation  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars. 

The  year  1831  brought  up  a  question  of  a  new  conference- 
room,  in  place  of  the  old  one  in  Temple  street ;  and  the  year 
1832  brought  the  conference-room  itself,  the  one  now  used. 
But  it  brought,  also,  in  doing  it,  the  appropriation  and  extin- 
guishment of  the  fund  so  solemnly  described  in  1802,  "  to  be 
forever  kept  entire  as  a  Society  Fund,  the  interest  thereof 
to  be  appropriated  and  applied  for  the  support  of  the  ministry 
in  the  society." 

The  year  1822  saw  the  first  organ  put  into  this  house,  and 
the  year  1835  saw  the  second — the  one  just  displaced — an 
instrument  so  excellent  that  the  Society's  extended  thanks  to 
the  maker  of  it  are  inscribed  on  its  records.  But,  alas, 
nothing  quite  suits  everybody,  and  1837  saw  on  file  the  peti- 
tion of  Ezekiel  Williams,  entreating  relief  from  the  terrible 
"  sub-bass "  of  the  dulcet  new  organ.  A  committee  was 
raised  to  harmonize  the  sub-bass  with  the  petitioner's  nerves, 
with  what  success  does  not  appear. 

The  year  1835  lowered  the  pulpit  a  second  time,  and 
brought  the  galleries  down  nearly  five  feet ;  and  1851  swept 


96 

out  the  old  square  pews  around  the  walls,  and  the  mahogany 
pulpit,  lustrous  yet,  in  the  memory  of  some  here,  above  all 
structures  beside. 

Early  in  1863  Dr.  Hawes  wrote  to  the  Society  expressing 
his  desire  for  a  colleague  in  the  ministerial  work.  The 
Society  voted  that  it  did  not  want  a  "colleague,"  but  "a  new 
minister.  Dr.  Hawes  still  retaining  his  pastoral  relations  to 
us."  Dr.  Hawes  replied  in  an  extended  communication, 
urging  the  colleagueship,  and  declaring  that  the  position  of 
pastor  emeritus  proposed  by  the  Society  was  "a  change 
greater  than  [he]  could  at  present  desire."  The  Society 
yielded  to  his  wish,  and  on  the  21st  of  October,  1862,  Mr. 
Wolcott  Calkins  was  installed  Associate  Pastor.  Mr.  Calkins 
was  born  at  Painted  Post  (now  Corning),  New  York,  June  10, 
1831;  graduated  at  Yale  College  1856;  studied  Theology  at 
Union  Seminary  in  1859,  ^'^^  ^.t  the  University  of  Halle  in 
1 860-1 862,  He  was  never  "  licensed  "  as  a  preacher,  being 
ordained  as  well  as  installed  at  his  entrance  on  the  associate 
pastorate  with  Dr.  Hawes.  Mr.  Calkins  fulfilled  the  func- 
tions of  his  office  about  eighteen  months,  when,  on  April 
29,  1864,  he  resigned  his  associate  pastorship.  His  resigna- 
tion was  followed  on  the  5th  of  May  by  that  of  Dr.  Hawes. 
An  ecclesiastical  council  met  on  the  i/th  of  May  to  con- 
sider the  resignation  of  Mr.  Calkins,  but  during  its  delibera- 
tions the  case  was  withdrawn.  Reassembled  by  call,  however, 
on  the  6th  of  July,  Mr.  Calkins  was  dismissed,  Dr.  Hawes 
being  \Q,it pastor  emeritits  of  the  Church. 

On  the  14th  of  December,  1864,  Rev.  George  H.  Gould 
was  installed  pastor.  Mr.  Gould  was  born  Feb;  20,  1827,  at 
Oakham,  Mass.  Graduating  at  Amherst  College  in  1850, 
and  Union  Seminary  in  1853,  the  early  portion  of  his  minis- 
try was  spent  in  evangelistic  work,  chiefly  in  Wisconsin. 
He  was  ordained  November  13,  1862,  and  served  as  acting 
pastor  of  the  Olivet  church,  Springfield,  Mass.,  from  1863  to 
1864,  when  he  became  Pastor  of  this  Church.  Dr.  Gould 
continued  in  office  till  the  nth  day  of  October,  1870,  when 
he  was  dismissed  with  the  concurrence  of  a  council.     During 


/C^<^.^^yxu/,/U^r^_^ 


97 

Dr.  Gould's  pastorate  the  old  and  venerated  pastor  emetitiis 
died.  This  event  took  place  at  Gilead,  where  he  had 
preached  the  Sunday  previous,  on  May  5,  1867.  All  his 
children  had  died  before  him.  His  son,  Erskine,  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Plymouth,  was  killed  by  accident  in  July  i860. 
His  wife  followed  him,  dying  a  week  afterwards. 

Three  discourses  suggested  by  the  life  and  death  of  Dr. 
Hawes  were  preached  in  Hartford.  One  at  his  funeral  on 
June  8th,  by  President  Woolsey  ;  one  by  Rev.  E.  P.  Parker 
of  the  Second  Church,  and  one  by  Dr.  Gould,  the  Pastor  of 
this  Church, 

Few  are  the  ministers  of  New  England  who  have  turned 
so  many  to  righteousness  as  Joel  Hawes. 

The  pastorate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Gould  was  also  marked  by  the 
reception  by  this  Society,  August  27,  1869,  of  the  Fund 
devised  by  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Warburton  for  support  of  the  ser- 
vices at  the  Chapel  which  had  been  built  by  her  previously 
(in  1865)  on  ground  purchased  by  individual  members  of  the 
Church.  In  May  1866,  a  charter  for  the  School  at  this 
Chapel  was  granted  to  Mrs.  Warburton  and  others.  This 
mission  was  in  1869  formally  adopted  under  the  conditions 
of  Mrs.  Warburton's  will  by  this  Church.  Under  varying 
management  and  method  this  Warburton  mission  has  been 
the  scene  of  the  most  consecrated  and  laborious  efforts 
put  forth  by  the  younger  members  of  this  fellowship  in  all 
the  Church's  later  history.  It  shines  in  a  dark  place,  and  its 
beams  have  guided  many  heavenward. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  this  Church  and  Society  extended 
a  call  to  the  pastorate  made  vacant  by  the  dismission  of  Dr. 
Gould,  to  Rev.  William  H.  Lord,  D.D.,  of  Montpelier,  Ver- 
mont, an  invitation  which  was,  however,  declined. 

More  than  a  year  elapsed  in  unsuccessful  quest  of  a  Pas- 
tor, when,  on  April  24,  1872,  Rev.  Elias  H.  Richardson, 
lately  of  Westfield,  Mass.,  was  installed  in  that  office.  Mr. 
Richardson  was  born  at  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  Aug.  11,  1827, 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1850,  and  at  Andover  in 
1853.  He  was  pastor,  successively,  at  Goffstown  and  Ando- 
ver, N.  H.,  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  Westfield,  Mass. 
'3 


98 

He  came  to  this  pastorate  in  his  forty-fifth  year  of  age, 
and  fulfilled  in  it  a  most  laborious  and  faithful  ministry  of 
about  six  years  and  eight  months.  During  this  period 
occurred  the  series  of  meetings  held  in  Hartford  under  the 
leadership  of  Mr.  D.  L.  Moody  and  subsequently  of  Rev. 
George  H.  Pentecost,  in  the  winter  of  1877-8. 

In  connection  with  these  meetings  and  partly  as  their 
direct  consequence  a  large  numerical  accession  was  made  to 
the  membership  of  the  Hartford  churches.  About  seventy- 
five  names  were  added  to  the  roll  of  this  Church  as  such 
result. 

Dr.  Richardson  left  the  marks  of  his  own  earnest  sincerity 
deeply  engraved  on  many  of  the  younger  members  of  this 
fellowship,  who  first  of  all  think  of  him  when  they  think  of 
their  guide  to  Christian  living.  He  was  a  man  of  quick  and 
keen  intellectual  perceptions,  of  warm  and  impulsive  tem- 
perament, of  delicate  sensibilities,  and  devout  piety.  Some- 
thing in  the  intensity  of  his  feelings  contrasted  with  the 
more  deliberate  habitudes  of  the  congregation,  made  the 
relationship  less  congenial  to  him  than  perhaps  it  might  have 
been  to  a  man  of  colder  blood.  But  no  truer-hearted  servant 
of  Christ  ever  stood  in  this  pulpit  than  he. 

In  December,  1878,  Dr.  Richardson  resigned  his  pastorate 
here  to  accept  that  of  the  First  church  in  New  Britain,  which 
had  been  tendered  him.  He  was  dismissed  here  on  the  23d 
of  that  month,  and  installed  there  January  7,  1879. 

His  pastorate  at  New  Britain  was  eminently  useful  and 
happy.  He  was  cut  off"  from  it  in  the  full  prime  of  his  vigor 
and  success,  dying  honored  and  beloved  on  the  27th  of  June, 
1883,  and  being  buried  among  the  people  of  his  latest  pasto- 
ral charge.  A  funeral  address  on  that  occasion  was  pro- 
nounced by  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton,  D.D.,  of  this  city,  and  on  the 
following  Sabbath  a  biographical  discourse  concerning  Dr. 
Richardson's  life  and  character  was  delivered  in  the  Pearl 
Street  Church  by  Rev.  Dr.  W.  L.  Gage.  He  was  the  first  of 
the  ministers  of  this  Church  to  die  elsewhere  than  in  Hart- 
ford or  to  be  buried  elsewhere  than  in  Hartford  soil. 


99 

The  present  Pastor  was  installed  February  27,  1879. 

No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  the  speaker  on  this 
occasion  how  inadequate  the  words  now  spoken  are  to  tell 
the  story  of  this  Church's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The 
inevitable  condensation  of  a  narrative  like  this,  long  though 
it  has  been,  presses  out  the  flavor  and  perfume  of  what  was, 
in  Time's  unfolding  of  it,  a  living  and  sometimes  a  lovely 
reality.  The  dried  raisin  of  commerce  is  not  much  like  the 
ripe  grape  of  the  vine.  ^  It  touches  one  with  a  sense  of 
pathos  and  almost  of  anger  to  think  how  much  of  sweetness 
and  nobleness  in  private  piety  in  all  these  years  ;  how  much 
of  faithfulness  and  self-sacrifice,  of  parental  solicitude  and 
of  individual  consecrated  endeavor  in  the  brotherhood  of  this 
Church  has  been  passed  over  untold,  nay,  has  perished 
utterly  from  human  remembrance.  The  deeds,  the  experi- 
ences, the  hopes,  the  cares,  nay,  even  the  names  of  this  two- 
and-a-half  century  companionship  are,  and  must  forever 
remain,  unknown. 

But  unrecorded  in  the  memories  of  men,  they  abide  in 
the  better  registry  of  His  mind  and  heart,  who  in  all  this 
duration  has  been  this  Church's  guide  and  head. 

What  remains  to  us  of  the  story  carries  with  it  its  own 
plain  lessons,  sometimes  of  encouragement,  sometimes  of 
warning  ;  now  of  reproof,  and  now  of  cheer.  But  the  whole  of 
it  points  us  forward  and  not  backward  as  the  millennial  time. 
This  is  not  our  rest.  The  New  Jerusalem  was  never  yet 
builded  on  any  continent  of  earthly  soil.  Now,  as  ever,  we 
wait  the  larger  promises  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  clouds 
of  witnesses  who  have  gone  before  us  seem  to  say, — and  let 
us  join  them  in  the  cry, — "  Lord  Jesus  come  quickly." 


Thursday  E 


HURSDAY    r^VENING. 


:'Sfc'' 


7hd 


co/r  (Sec  C^ec^J' 


Mr.  Cone  said:  This  memorial  window  has  upon  it  the  names  of 
Calkins  and  Gould,  who  were  once  pastors  here.  They  are  in  life  and 
with  us  and  we  shall  hear  their  voices  again  to-night. 

It  also  bears  the  name  of  another  pastor,  whose  image  is  before  me, 
and  whose  recent  and  sudden  death  speaks  most  eloquently  to  us  in 
language  like  this:  be  ye  also  ready,  for  ye  know  not  the  hour  or  day 
when  the  Master  will  call  for  thee.  It  is  the  eloquence  of  the  dead. 
He  has  gone  up  higher;  but  who  can  say  that  his  spirit  is  not  with  us 
to-night.  Elias  H.  Richardson  was  a  conscientious  and  faithful  pastor 
here  for  more  than  six  years,  and  though  dead  he  speaks  to  us  as  no 
living  pastor  can  speak. 

Mr.  Cone  then  introduced  Rev.  Wolcott  Calkins,  who  was  settled 
as  associate  with  Dr.  Hawes  for  about  two  years. 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.  WOLCOTT  CALKINS. 

The  memorable  journey  of  Hooker  and  his  company  from 
Newtown  to  Hartford  occupied  nearly  two  weeks,  and  yet  in 
these  days  of  steamboats  and  railroads  it  took  me  seventeen 
years  to  get  back  from  Hartford  to  the  same  old  Newtown  ! 
The  proverb  was  at  fault,  for  once  ;  the  "  longest  way  'round 
was  not  the  shortest  way  home."  My  journey  around  by 
Philadelphia  and  Buffalo  was  a  great  deal  longer  than  the 
straight  path  our  fathers  made  by  compass  and  the  stars 
through  the  primeval  forest.  But  it  has  taken  me  only  a 
few  hours  to  come  to  you  now,  and  I  bring  with  me  the  fresh 
and  hearty  greetings  of  the  churches  and  brethren,  not  only 
of  the  original  Newtown,  but  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity. 
Your  immediate  successor,  the  First  Church  of  Cambridge, 
has  sent  you,  as  I  am  informed,  a  token  of  its  reverence  and 
affection,  and  I  have  the  honor  to  hand  to  your  pastor  a 
letter  from  my  own  church,  the  only  church  here  represented 
in  the  original  town  where  your  history  began.  For  the 
town  as  it  was  enlarged  in  the  hope  of  keeping  Hooker  and 
his   company  from  emigrating,  included    Billerica,  Bedford, 


I04 

and  Arlington  on  the  north,  Brighton  and  Brookline  on  the 
south,  together  with  the  present  cities  of  Cambridge  and 
Newtown.  And  all  through  that  region  the  precious  influ- 
ences of  Hooker's  ministry  of  less  than  three  years  still  con- 
tinue in  the  godly  descendants  of  some  of  his  company  left 
behind,  in  the  fidelity  of  the  churches  to  the  doctrines  and 
polity  which  he  taught,  and  in  the  magnificent  university 
which  he  helped  to  found.  A  few  days  ago  I  visited  the 
spot  where  Hooker  and  Stone  were  ordained  pastor  and 
teacher  of  this  church,  October  ii,  1633.  A  modest  build- 
ing of  brick,  in  which  good  bread  is  baked,  stands  now 
where  they  dispensed  the  bread  of  life,  at  the  intersection 
of  Dunster  and  Mt.  Auburn  streets.  On  its  corner  stone 
you  may  read  this  inscription  : 

SITE  OF  THE  FIRST    MEETING-HOUSE    IN    CAMBRIDGE,  ERECTED 

IN    1632. 

The  proprietor  told  me  that  he  found  traces  of  the  old 
foundations,  in  excavating  for  his  walls.  A  little  to  the 
northeast,  on  what  is  now  a  part  of  the  college  grounds, 
stood  Hooker's  house.  Stone  lived  still  nearer  the  meeting- 
house, on  the  present  Boylston  street.  As  you  stand  on 
that  sacred  spot  to-day,  and  glance  at  the  university  with 
nearly  200  officers  and  instructors,  and  1,500  students,  and 
think  of  that  great  town  twenty  miles  north  and  south,  and 
fifteen  miles  east  and  west,  on  which  two  cities  have  since 
grown  to  a  population  of  nearly  75,000 ;  or  as  you  climb  to 
the  tower  of  Memorial  Hall,  and  survey  the  splendid  city  in 
the  harbor,  and  sweep  around  over  Dorchester  Heights  to 
Wellesley  Hills  and  back  again  by  Arlington  and  Summer- 
ville  to  Bunker  Hill  and  Boston,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
landscapes  on  this  continent,  glorified  by  the  homes  and 
industries  and  institutions  of  a  prosperous  community  of 
nearly  400,000, — you  cannot  help  wondering  why  in  the 
world  your  ancestors  were  so  "  straitened  for  room,"  at  a  time 
when  there  were  not  more  than  one  hundred  families,  and 
five  or  six  hundred  persons  in  all  Newtown  !     I  suspect  there 


I05 

was  not  room  enough  in  all  Massachusetts  for  two  such  men 
as  Thomas  Hooker  and  John  Cotton  !  Neither  Paul  nor 
Hooker  could  build  on  another  man's  foundation.  The  high 
calling  of  God  to  more  magnificent  conquests,  was  reverber- 
ating: in  his  soul  And  it  seems  to  me  that  if  ever  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  in  heaven  are  permitted  to 
know  that  their  prayers  are  answered  and  their  sublimest 
purposes  are  accomplished,  then  these  heroic  and  sainted 
men  are  with  us  now,  looking  upon  this  scene  which  thrills 
our  hearts  with  the  conviction  that  the  "  strong  bent  of  their 
spirits  to  remove  hither  "  was  indeed  the  voice  of  God. 

The  singular  providence  which  makes  me  the  connecting 
link  between  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  between 
the  past  and  the  present,  has  seemed  to  me  more  worthy  of 
commemoration  to-day  than  my  own  brief  ministry  to  this 
church.  My  service  was  merely  to  make  a  transition.  It  seems 
to  be  the  will  of  God  that  life-long  and  illustrious  ministries 
to  the  churches,  like  those  of  Gardiner  Spring,  and  William 
Adams,  and  Leonard  Bacon,  and  Joel  Hawes,  shall  not  in 
our  times  pass  into  new  and  equally  permanent  workman- 
ship without  an  experiment,  and  usually  a  series  of  experi- 
ments. My  own  little  experiment  would  hardly  deserve 
mention  in  the  magnificent  history  we  are  recounting  to-day, 
if  it  had  not  served  in  part  to  facilitate  the  transition  to  the 
existing  condition  of  ensured  prosperity. 

But  although  my  work  in  itself  was  so  insignificant,  there 
was  something  incident  to  it  which  is  well  worth  commemo- 
rating to-day.  .  The  faith  of  the  church  in  calling  me,  and 
their  enthusiastic  support,  seem  to  me  almost  miraculous  in 
the  retrospect.  Untried,  unlicensed,  inexperienced,  before  I 
had  preached  half  a  dozen  formal  sermons  in  my  life,  I  was 
invited,  without  the  least  misgiving  on  their  part,  or,  as  I  am 
bound  to  add,  on  my  own,  to  be  the  teacher  of  this  illustrious 
church.  And,  to  the  last,  I  never  knew  of  any  heart  that 
faltered  except  mine.  The  first  grief  this  church  occasioned 
me  was  the  grief  inflicted  by  myself,  the  pang  of  separation. 
It  is  sweet  to  tell  you  how  grateful  I  am  for  this,  now  that 
14 


io6 

many  years  have  deepened  and  hallowed  the  sentiment. 
Every  little  incident  of  my  ordination  comes  back  to  me  now 
with  genial  and  tender  associations.  The  smile  on  Dr. 
Bushnell's  face,  when  I  told  the  council  that  I  believed 
everything  in  all  the  Orthodox  creeds,  and  confessions,  and 
catechisms,  from  Westminster  and  Cambridge  down  to  the 
Saybrook  Platform  ;  the  long  pause,  when  I  began  to  hope 
they  would  surrender  without  firing  a  shot ;  the  childlike 
suggestion  of  President  Woolsey  that  some  of  the  brethren 
might  have  forgotten  their  catechisms,  and  so  might  like  to 
hear  me  tell  in  my  own  words  just  what  I  believed  ;  the  fear 
I  felt,  when  the  council  continued  with  closed  doors  till 
about  dark,  that  they  were  throwing  me  overboard  ;  my  relief 
to  learn  they  were  only  trying  to  find  out  when  I  was  con- 
verted, and  my  regret  that  they  had  not  decided  that  question 
ex  cathedra: 

"  Tis  a  point  I  long  to  know." 

During  the  prayer  of  consecration  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  there  was  a  momentary  confusion  ;  suppressed  whis- 
pers ;  moving  of  chairs  ;  at  last  my  feet  were  tenderly  lifted. 
In  my  ignorance  of  the  "  way  of  the  churches  "  I  supposed 
this  was  a  part  of  the  ceremony,  and  remembered  with  awe 
how  in  the  Jewish  ritual,  not  only  the  head,  but  the  hands 
and  the  feet  of  the  priest  were  successively  touched  !  But  I 
afterwards  learned  that  Dr.  Hawes  had  lost  his  spectacles  ! 
I  am  very  glad  those  spectacles  were  found.  I  could  not 
afford  to  lose  a  word  of  that  generous  charge,  by  which  he 
welcomed  me  as  his  associate. 

I  cannot  recall  the  whole  of  Dr.  Hawes's  extended  and 
eloquent  charge.  But  I  remember  distinctly  every  word  of 
another  charge  which  was  given  me  unofficially  by  an  experi- 
enced minister  in  the  council,  to  whom  no  part  had  been 
assigned:  "God  bless  you,  my  young  friend,  and  be  thank- 
ful all  the  rest  of  your  life,  if  during  the  first  two  years  of 
your  ministry  you  do  not  do  more  harm  than  good ! " 

When  I  think  of  my  inexperience,  my  impetuous  nature, 
and  the  volcanic  times  in  which  we  lived,  these  words  come 


T07 

back  to  me  with  tremendous  significance.  For  that  was  in 
1862.  Lincoln  had  just  announced  the  approaching  procla- 
mation of  emancipation ;  McClellan  was  retreating  from 
before  Richmond ;  our  forces  were  falling  back  upon  the 
defences  of  Washington;  Harper's  Ferry  surrendered;  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  passed ;  Lee  marching  into  Pennsylvania ! 
What  an  awful  time  for  a  hot-headed  youth  to  begin  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation !  Reconciliation !  My  first 
thanksgiving  sermon  was  a  vindication  of  the  imprecatory 
Psalms,  and  of  the  righteous  wrath  of  an  outraged  people, 
against  the  "basest  wickedness  ever  perpetrated  in  the 
world  since  the  crucifixion  of  the  Redeemer,"  My  first  fast 
day  sermon  was  a  bugle  call  for  volunteers,  to  fill  up  our 
depleted  ranks.  One  of  my  first  pastoral  duties  was  to  bear 
the  intelligence  of  wounds  and  death  to  a  stricken  family. 
One  of  my  first  funerals,  was  the  burial  of  Lieutenant  Weld, 
who  died  near  the  battle-field,  singing, 

"  Just  as  I  am,  thy  love  unknown 
Has  broken  every  barrier  down." 

One  wedding  was  solemnized  while  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg was  raging  and  still  undecided.  Every  Sunday  this 
whole  congregation  would  run  straight  from  the  door  of  the 
meeting-house  to  read  the  bulletin  boards  posted  on  the 
other  side  of  the  street.  Dr.  Hawes  would  shake  his  head, 
mourn  for  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  and  then  ask  some- 
body to  tell  him  the  news !  How  could  we  help  it  ?  The 
names  of  the  best  young  men  of  Hartford  were  often  posted 
in  those  awful  lists  of  killed  and  wounded.  This  genera- 
tion can  never  realize  the  conflicting  emotions  of  that  hour: 
fierce,  irrepressible  indignation,  terror  verging  towards 
despair,  and  then  flaming  up  into  invincible  courage.  These 
were  the  sufferings  which  purchased  the  liberty,  union,  and 
perpetual  prosperity  of  this  imperial  republic. 

For  that  deep  and  burning  passion,  which  tended  not  only 
to  make  the  religion  of  this  church  patriotic,  but  almost  to 
make  our  patriotism  our  religion,  I  must  assume  my  full 
responsibility.     Perhaps  the  dear  brethren  also  have  some 


io8 

account  to  give,  for  the  generous  support  they  afforded  me, 
and  the  impetuous  way  they  had  of  silencing  every  murmur 
at  my  ferocious  denunciations  and  fervid  appeals. 

I  suppose  I  should  have  been  more  consistent  if  the 
commanding  tone  of  my  spiritual,  as  well  as  of  my  political 
preaching  had  been  more  of  law  and  of  duty  and  of  retribu- 
tion, than  of  the  tenderness  that  belongs  to  the  spirit  of  pure 
Christianity.  And  yet  the  very  first  sermons  after  my 
inaugural,  were  a  series  of  three  on  the  love  of  God  to  sinful 
man.  I  can  almost  see  Governor  Ellsworth  now  as  he  came 
out  of  that  pew,  and,  with  the  tremulous  voice  which  always 
made  me  feel  like  shedding  tears,  even  when  he  had  nothing 
to  say  except  "  Good  morning,"  grasped  my  hand  while  actual 
tears  flowed  down  his  face,  to  tell  me  that  he  never  felt  before 
how  God  loved  him  while  he  was  an  impenitent  sinner.  The 
fact  is,  there  was  no  attempt  to  make  things  consistent  in 
this  pulpit.  The  imprecatory  Psalms  got  mixed  up  with  the 
hymn  of  Charity  in  First  Corinthians ;  the  Book  of  Esther 
with  the  Prodigal  Son  ;  justification  of  rebels  against  God 
with  apocalyptic  anathemas  to  rebels  against  the  United 
States  ;  Christ,  the  prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  a  new  dis- 
pensation of  love  with  the  most  devastating  woes  of  the  old 
prophets  ;  love  to  enemies  in  general  with  shame  and  ever- 
lasting contempt  to  our  enemies  in  Virginia.  Dr.  Hawes 
told  me  about  a  great  revival  which  marked  the  beginning  of 
his  ministry.  We  prayed  together  in  his  study  for  a  revival 
at  the  outset  of  mine.  But  when  I  think  of  these  harsh  and 
inevitable  discords  between  law  and  gospel,  and  of  the  pre- 
occupied sympathies  of  the  whole  country,  the  wonder  is, 
not  that  there  was  no  revival,  but  that  anybody  was  con- 
verted. Precious  souls  were  converted.  Among  the  thirteen 
whom  I  welcomed  at  my  first  communion  were  five  boys  ;  one 
of  them,  present  with  us  to-day,  is  now  the  minister  of  an 
important  church  in  a  neighboring  city.  And  among  the 
seventy-six  received  during  my  ministry,  are  many  of  the 
founders  of  the  Asylum  Hill  church,  and  many  of  the  most 
useful  members  of  this  and  other  churches.     Nearly  all  the 


I09 

young  men  were  gone  to  the  war.  The  children  clustered 
around  me,  in  little  classes  for  spiritual  instruction,  and  in 
thrilling  services  of  praise,  when  such  songs  came  forth  from 
that  gallery  as  have  never  been  heard  since  that  night  in 
Bethlehem.  There  was  a  great  enlargement  of  mission  work 
in  this  city.  My  regular  preaching  services  at  the  State 
street  hall,  Sunday  evenings,  were  crowded,  and  conversions 
were  frequent.  From  that  mission,  which  had  been  in 
successful  operation  before  my  day,  Warburton  Chapel  has 
since  grown.  Earnest  helpers,  especially  Christian  ladies, 
entered  with  ardor  upon  the  work  of  visiting  the  neglected 
from  house  to  house. 

In  short,  we  had  a  great  many  irons  in  the  fire,  and  we  kept 
them  all  red  hot.  No  matter  where  I  led,  this  conservative 
church  followed  me  up  with  enthusiasm.  There  was  a  little 
girl — how  well  I  remember  her,  for  my  first  burial  service  of 
little  children  was  the  funeral  of  that  child  and  her  baby 
sister, — this  little  girl  became  greatly  excited  the  first  time  I 
ever  preached  in  this  pulpit.  She  had  never  seen  the  decks 
cleared  for  action  before.  Her  eyes  opened  wide,  she  grasped 
her  mother's  hand,  and  as  I  would  move  back,  and  step 
forward,  she  would  whisper — "  Now,  look  out !  "  At  last  she 
exclaimed : 

"  Now,  mamma,  look — now  he  is  going  to  jump  over  !  " 
I  presume  this  little  girl  was  not  alone  in  that  apprehension. 
There  was  a  general  expectation  most  of  the  time,  that  I  was 
going  to  jump.  City  missions,  new  plans  for  the  prayer- 
meeting,  new. ways  of  keeping  church  registers,  new  orders 
of  service,  new  schemes  for  helping  the  soldiers.  We  kept 
on  the  jump.  But  I  have  this  to  say,  out  of  a  heart  full  of 
thankfulness  :  No  matter  where  I  jumped,  this  beloved 
church,  so  illustrious  for  its  dignity  and  deliberation,  were 
always  ready  to  jump  with  me.  I  do  not  say  they  could  have 
endured  it  a  great  while.  But  things  were  lively  for  a  couple 
of  years,  and  it  was  all  for  love  of  me.  They  appreciated 
and  magnified  every  good  thing  I  tried  to  do.  They  were  so 
charitable  for  my  faults  that  I  was  always  cheered,  never 


no 

depressed.  An  eminent  philological  scholar  in  the  congrega- 
tion once  pointed  out  a  gross  mistake  I  had  made  in  the 
derivation  of  an  English  word,  with  such  hearty  admiration 
of  the  point  which  my  blunder  illustrated,  that  his  criticism 
was  turned  into  flattery.  "  And  after  all,"  he  said,  "  you  got 
it  near  enough  right  for  preaching"  So  they  helped  me  in 
my  little  experiment  here,  when  flaming  zeal,  perhaps,  was 
more  needful  than  wisdom,  and  they  made  me  receptive  of  a 
little  wisdom  for  the  real  work  of  my  life  elsewhere — those 
magnificent  men  and  women  of  twenty-one  years  ago.  God 
bless  them  all  !  I  believe  the  communion  of  saints,  I  pray 
not  for  the  dead,  but  I  praise  the  dead  more  than  the  living, 
and  I  breathe  out  here  all  my  love  and  my  ardent  longings 
for  unbroken  communion  with  them  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 
I  will  not  let  such  a  common  accident  and  inevitable  calamity 
as  death  shatter  the  vision  splendid,  which  rises  before  me 
in  this  hallowed  place, — the  vision  of  that  vast  congregation, 
of  governors  and  senators  and  judges  and  financial  monarchs, 
with  their  families  and  the  industrious  intelligent  population 
of  the  city,  crowding  every  pew  on  the  floor  and  in  the 
galleries,  and  signalling  by  breathless  silence,  by  eager  look, 
and  often  by  tears,  their  intense  interest  in  the  message  God 
gave  me  to  proclaim.  All  illusions  are  dispelled  by  that 
imperishable  remembrance,  and  all  vagueness  removed  from 
our  heavenly  aspirations.  We  are  come  to  the  city  of  the 
living  God,  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  first  born.  They 
are  not  far  away. 

Sweet  spirits  round  us  !     Watch  us  still,  • 

Press  nearer  to  our  side; 
Into  our  thoughts,  into  our  prayers, 

With  gentle  helpings  glide. 

Let  death  between  us  be  as  naught, 

A  dried  and  vanished  stream  ; 
Your  joy  be  the  reality, 

Our  suffering  life  the  dream ! 

They  all  appeal  to  this  ancient  and  reinvigorated  church 
to  be  true  to  its  untarnished  history.     For  250  years  they 


(^,  je.^t^j^' 


Ill 

have  fought  the  good  fight,  they  have  kept  the  faith.  And 
still  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford,  like  the  great 
nation  with  whose  birth  its  own  was  coincident,  is  in  tlie 
freshness  of  its  youth.  Its  most  healthful  growth  and  its 
grandest  work  are  yet  in  the  future;  the  nation  and  the  earth 
itself  shall  perish,  before  the  foundations  be  removed  of  the 
church  of  the  blessed  God ! 


Rev.  Mr.  Gould  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Cone  as  follows  :  Rev.  Dr. 
George  H.  Gould  was  the  successor  of  Mr.  Calkins.  He  needs  no 
introduction  where  he  is  so  well  known  as  in  this  place.  The  audience 
are  invited  to  listen  to  what  he  has  to  say. 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.  GEORGE  H.  GOULD. 

Standing  under  the  shadow  of  the  centuries  as  we  all  have 
been  standing  to-day,  and  with  the  music  of  that  grand  his- 
toric discourse  still  ringing  in  our  ears,  any  reference  to  an 
individual  pastorate  so  modern  and  brief  as  my  own,  seems 
almost  an  impertinence.  But  greatness  is  both  intrinsic  and 
derivative.  Any  small  claim  I  may  have  upon  your  hearing 
to-night  then,  springs  from  the  simple  fact  that  it  fell  to  me 
through  the  great  charity  and  forbearance  of  the  people, 
for  a  short  period,  to  stand  in  this  grand  historic  line  of 
Center  church  pastors  ;  and  when  in  the  Providence  of  God 
I  was  compelled,  sorrowfully,  to  close  my  connection  with  it 
coveted  no  higher  endorsement  from  others,  or  my  own  con- 
science, than  the  assurance  that  I  had  left  upon  it — bating 
our  common  human  infirmity — no  stain  of  unfaithfulness, 
and  had  not  flagrantly  dishonored  it  by  theological  or  mental 
incapacity.  I  have  always  felt  that  I  owed  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude hitherto  unacknowledged  publicly,  to  my  immediate  pre- 
decessor, Dr.  Calkins,  who  has  now  addressed  you,  for  the 
great  service  he  rendered  me  and  all  others  after  him — in 
shattering  so  effectually  as  he  did  the  traditional  idol  well 
nigh  worshiped  by  this  people  up  to  this  day — viz. :  that  no 


112 

pastor  had  a  right  to  leave  this  church,  except  by  a  direct 
interposition  of  God — in  other  words,  by  translation  through 
the  gate  of  death  to  a  better  land.  Indeed,  before  my  brother 
Calkins'  time,  it  was  about  as  much  as  a  man's  life  was  worth 
to  think  of  leaving  Center  church  alive.  It  was  flying  in 
the  face  of  all  traditional  decency.  The  Spartan  mother 
exhorted  her  son  to  come  back  with  his  shield,  or  tipo7i  it. 
It  was  not  enough  for  a  servant  of  this  church  to  come  back 
from  the  holy  wars  with  his  shield — he  must  be  stretched 
upon  it,  or  he  had  made  no  fit  ending  of  the  fight.  Nothing 
in  the  life  of  a  Center  church  minister  "  became  him  like  the 
leaving  it."  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  annual  church 
report  after  my  settlement,  read  by  my  revered  and  beloved 
senior  deacon.  Gov.  Ellsworth.  In  his  peculiarly  imposing 
and  impressive  manner  he  sketched  the  opening  of  my  min- 
istry, and  drawing  upon  his  imagination,  went  on  down  the 
years,  depicting  an  almost  ideal  pastorate — until  he  came  to 
my  obsequies — when,  with  a  faltering  and  choking  voice,  he 
described  the  last  scene,  and  I  saw  myself  most  decorously 
laid  away  in  the  old  burying  ground,  side  by  side  with  the 
sleeping  dust  of  my  honored  predecessors.  But  somehow 
my  brother,  under  the  pressure  of  an  emergency,  having 
hewed  his  way  through  and  over  this  venerated  custom — I 
was  the  more  easily  able  to  leave  with  the  breath  of  life  in 
me.  But  I  went  away  so  nearly  a  dead  man,  that  I  think 
the  church  has  been  quite  willing  to  condone  my  one  great 
act  of  heterodoxy,  and  to  welcome  me  from  time  to  time,  on 
my  returns,  with  a  kindness  and  affection  that  in  my  own 
heart  I  know  have  never  ceased  to  glow  toward  this  dear 
people  from  the  hour  I  left  them.  My  ministry  here,  though 
one  of  great  burdens,  and  weaknesses,  was  also  one  of  great 
joy.  No  minister  ever  received  from  a  people  a  more  gener- 
ous care,  a  more  thoughtful  support,  a  more  delicate  consid- 
eration for  his  "  often  infirmities."  And  though  the  nominal 
tie  that  binds  us  has  long  since  been  severed,  I  have  still 
investments  here — a  stock  interest  in  this  old  church,  a  life 
interest  that  has  been  paying  me  blessed  dividends  ever  since 


113 

I  entered  its  pastorate.  And  in  the  great  day,  I  trust,  it  will 
appear  that  some  "  born  here  "  are  to  be  my  "  joy  and  crown  " 
forever. 

First  impressions,  as  we  all  know,  are  often  more  truthful 
in  seizing  salient  characteristics  than  any  later.  As  this  is 
an  occasion  largely  of  reminiscence,  I  may  be  indulged  in 
one  or  two  of  Old  Center  when  I  came  to  it  in  '64.  The  first 
thing  that  struck  me  as  I  entered  the  church  doors  and  stood 
with  trembling  knees  in  the  high  old  pulpit  was  not  exactly 
the  "  union  of  church  and  state  "  before  me,  but  the  presence 
of  a  congregation  in  which,  at  least,  the  august  dignities  and 
decorums  of  this  present  world  seemed  singularly  blended 
with  an  aspect  of  reverence  and  devout  spirituality  that  I  had 
never  seen  surpassed.  Dr.  Hawes,  in  one  of  his  retrospective 
sermons,  describes  his  own  first  impressions  of  this  people 
so  graphically  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  transcribing  a  sen- 
tence as  my  own.  "  As  1  walked  up  the  broad  aisle,"  he 
says,  "I  seemed  to  be  in  the  midst  of  an  assembly  of  Roman 
senators,  so  thickly  scattered  in  every  part  of  the  house  were 
grave  and  venerable  men,  their  heads  hoary  with  age  and 
with  honor,  and  their  upturned  countenances  so  intelligent, 
so  dignified,  so  devout  and  thoughtful,  that  I  was  filled  with 
awe  as  I  beheld  them."  Forty  years  later  this  photograph 
had  not  wholly  faded  out.  And  yet  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
nothing  like  wordly  parade  could  be  detected.  No  protuber- 
ant and  carnal  self-assertion  in  the  pews.  No  self-advertis- 
ing Croesuses  appeared.  If  Diotrephes  was  present  he  kept 
his  love  of  pre-eminence  skillfully  out  of  sight,  at  least  dur- 
ing the  .hour  of  worship.  One  feeling  seemed  uppermost 
with  every  auditor.  "  How  dreadful  is  this  place.  This  is 
none  other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  the  gate  of  heaven." 
And  yet  with  all  this  devoutness,  the  suggestion  was  sure  to 
steal  back  to  the  preacher,  as  he  glanced  among  his  audience, 
that  probably  they  were  not  wholly  unfamiliar  with  Thomas 
Binney's  great  sermon,  "  How  to  Make  the  Best  of  Both 
Worlds."  Traces  of  honored  lineage,  cultured  homes,  high 
intellectuality,  eminent  citizenship,  and  large  wealth  were 
15 


114 

visible  all  over  the  congregation.  But  these  things  it  seemed 
to  me,  were  all  held  under  law  to  Christ,  and  under  recog- 
nized stewardship  to  God  to  an  extent  that  I  had  not  before 
known. 

But  underneath  this  external  gravity  and  dignity,  I  soon 
discovered  a  heart  loyalty  existing  toward  the  old  church 
itself,  that  to  me  was  a  revelation.  This  church  I  soon 
learned  was  not  simply  a  "church,"  but  an  institution,  with 
the  momentum  of  ages  behind  it.  And  pastor  or  no  pastor 
it  had  a  life  of  its  own  that  no  ordinary  earthly  vicissitudes 
could  imperil.  Like  Tennyson's  brook — "men  might  come 
and  go,"  but  this  church  would  "  go  on  forever."  As  well 
think  of  Connecticut  river  becoming  extinct  as  Center  church. 
They  loved  their  ministers,  reverenced  them  as  do  few  others. 
But  the  minister,  I  soon  found,  borrowed  his  luster  from  the 
church  and  not  the  church  from  the  minister, — as  was  alto- 
gether proper. 

And  thus  from  this  historic  spirit  naturally  grew  up  at 
length  a  deep-rooted  aversion  to  change  and  innovation.  I 
was  younger  than  now,  and  had  more  rashness  in  my  blood, 
or  never  could  I  have  brought  myself  to  lay  a  sacrilegious 
hand  on  the  old  candlestick  of  a  pulpit  that  hung  between 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  when  I  came  here.  I  have  since 
looked  upon  it  as  a  strain  put  on  the  affection  and  confidence 
of  this  people  in  me  beyond  almost  any  other  I  subjected 
them  to,  that  they  listened  for  a  moment  to  my  suggested 
reconstruction  of  the  old  pulpit.  But  after  a  long  and  toil- 
some siege  laid  at  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  committee,  I 
succeeded  in  getting  it  brought  forward,  the  platform  enlarged, 
the  old  box  barricading  stripped  away  ;  but  I  did  not  get  the 
thing  lowered  one  inch.  The  committee  stuck  there,  and 
wouldn't  budge.  But  the  old  pulpit  has  come  down  ! — a 
blessed  sign,  I  must  think,  of  the  near  approach  of  that  happy 
day  when  "  the  mountains  shall  be  brought  low  and  all  the 
valleys  exalted ! " 

But  not  to  prolong.  This  historic  conservatism,  let  me 
now  say,  has  brought  two  great  blessings   to  this  people : 


i'5 

First,  absence  of  internal  dissensions  and  perennial  harmony 
within  its  borders.  To  no  Jerusalem,  ancient  or  modern,  I 
am  confident,  has  the  prayer  for  peace  be'en  more  richly 
answered.  I  used  to  think  that  hardly  any  event  less  nota- 
ble than  the  earthquake  which  rent  the  old  temple  at  the 
crucifixion  could  split  Center  church  into  anything  like 
opposing  factions.  This  church  then,  for  a  good  while,  has 
not  been  an  inviting  field  for  troublers  in  Israel — for  peripa- 
tetic religious  cranks  and  "  crooked  sticks  "  to  operate  in. 
Each  generation  has  seemed  to  serve  as  an  added  girder  or 
hoop  of  steel  to  bind  this  brotherhood  into  a  more  indestructi- 
ble organic  unity. 

The  second  blessing  to  which  I  refer  is  stanchness  and 
stability  of  faith.  Other  churches  have  been  scattered  and 
blown  about,  from  time  to  time,  with  adverse  winds  of 
doctrine.  Not  the  old  Center.  Some  churches  have  betrayed 
itching  ears  for  another  gospel  which  is  not  another.  Not 
the  old  Center.  We  hear  a  great  deal  nowadays  about  "  new 
light  "  in  theology.  But  I  go  back  to  the  great  Hooker, 
your  first  pastor — "  the  light  of  the  western  churches,"  and 
running  over  his  published  sermons  and  treatises  I  find  him 
holding  up  the  cross  of  the  same  crucified  Lord,  and  preach- 
ing essentially  the  same  doctrines  to  which  you  are  listening 
to-day — although  250  years  separate  these  two  pastorates,  your 
first  and  your  last.  We  are  told  that  some  of  the  timber  used 
in  your  first  meeting-house  is  still  in  existence  in  this  pre- 
sent building.  Sure  I  am  that  some  of  the  old  Hooker  tim- 
ber is  still  extant  in  the  ministration  of  this  pulpit, — for  which 
let  us  thank  God  and  take  courage.  And  this  is  the  Gospel 
pabulum  with  which  this  flock  has  been  fed  from  the  first 
— though  with  unequal  ability.  Dr.  Hawes,  after  preaching 
ten  Sabbaths  before  his  settlement  writes  to  a  friend,  "  I  have 
preached  with  all  that  plainness  and  pungency  which  I  should 
wish  to  use  in  preaching  to  those  whom  I  never  expect  to 
meet  again  in  this  world.  But  I  cannot  make  myself  believe 
that  these  fine  folks  and  fastidious  lawyers  will  wish  to  have 
me  every  Sabbath  showering  barbed  arrows  at  them.     True 


ii6 

it  is,  however,  I  have  not  taken  a  single  step  more  or  less  for 
the  sake  of  pleasing  them."  And  it  was  just  like  Center 
Church  to  settle  him — "  barbed  arrows  "  and  all — if  convinced 
that  they  came  from  a  true  Gospel  quiver.  And  this  key 
note  then  struck,  Dr.  Hawes  held  to,  without  introducing  a 
single  "  flat "  into  the  scale  for  forty  years.  And  this  church 
when  I  came  to  it  was  largely  the  child  of  that  remarkable 
ministry.  I  could  wish  more  time  for  personal  reminiscences. 
Fain  would  I  speak  of  Ellsworth,  and  Ward,  and  Stone,  and 
Capron,  and  Barbour,  and  Hudson,  and  Jewell,  the  Churches, 
the  Perkinses,  the  Goodriches,  the  Smiths,  and  Brace,  and 
Vermilye,  and  Hosmer,  and  Howe,  and  Hamilton,  and  Harris, 
and  Skinner,  and  Kendall — all  of  whom,  and  a  great  multi- 
tude beside,  have  now  crossed  the  River.  What  church  was 
ever  served  on  a  communion  Sunday  by  a  nobler  board  of 
deacons.  What  church  ever  had  a  more  winsome  usher  and 
doorkeeper  on  a  Sabbath  morning  than  Skinner,  who  loved 
this  old  vestibule  as  he  loved  the  very  gate  of  heaven.  I 
have  mentioned  as  yet  no  mother  in  our  Israel  of  that  day. 
What  a  roll  of  precious  names  I  might  recall.  I  will  instance, 
however,  but  one ;  and  she,  by  God's  goodness,  yet  among 
the  living.  But  her  active  service  has  spanned  so  many  dif- 
ferent pastorates,  and  I  owe  her  personally  such  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  that  I  trust  she  will  pardon  any  seeming  irreverence 
if  I  now  venture  to  designate  her  by  a  name  that  has  become 
sacred  in  the  ears  of  more  than  two  generations  of  Center 
Church  children.     "  Aunty  Brown  " — may  God  bless  her. 

I  counted  it  my  great  good  fortune  that  Dr.  Hawes  lived 
two  years  and  a  half  after  I  came  here.  He  was  then  a 
Hartford  institution.  As  was  also  Dr.  Bushnell.  To  make 
the  acquaintance  of  two  such  men  simultaneously,  marked 
an  epoch  in  any  young  minister's  life.  Both  were  men  of  a 
unique  and  tremendous  personality.  Both  were  positive  in 
their  makeup  as  Niagara  falls.  Large-souled  and  big-calibred 
by  nature,  neither  was  capable  of  any  approach  toward  duplic- 
ity, finesse,  or  indirection.  Hawes  had  talent  —  Bushnell 
had  genius.     Hawes  was  strong  in  the  singular  symmetry  of 


117 

his  powers,  Bushnell  by  the  dazzling  uplift  of  his  ideal 
nature  Hawes  was  strong  in  body,  strong  in  will,  strongest 
of  all  in  his  intense  convictions.  Bushnell,  not  strong  in 
body,  was  the  equal  of  Hawes  in  will,  far  stronger  than  he  in 
intellect  and  imagination,  but  in  convictions  tentative  and 
interrogatory  to  the  close.  Hawes  wrought  out  his  whole 
ministry  from  the  center  of  an  unwavering  faith  in  the  Written 
Word,  Bushnell  under  the  inner  light  of  his  own  intuitive 
reason.  Hawes  carved  his  name  in  men,  Bushnell  in  books. 
The  name  of  Hawes  will  soon  be  forgotten ;  but  by  a  moral 
metempsychosis  he  will  pass  into  the  lives  of  his  spiritual 
children,  and  his  influence  on  earth  will  be  immortal.  The 
name  of  Bushnell — though  his  grasp  on  his  own  time  had  less 
of  flesh  and  blood  vigor  in  it  than  that  of  his  contemporary 
— will  live  in  literature  for  generations,  and  like  a  star  mount- 
ing higher  and  higher  toward  the  zenith,  will  hold  the  world's 
gaze  so  long  as  men  are  attracted  by  inspiring  thought,  and 
the  witcheries  of  a  style  that  is  simply  prose  poetry  from 
beginning  to  end. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  know  and  to  love  both  these  men. 
And  the  Hartford  of  twenty  years  ago — as  I  first  knew  it — 
without  Hawes  and  Bushnell  in  the  foreground,  would  be 
as  the  play  of  Hamlet,  with  Hamlet  left  out. 


Mr.  Cone  introduced  Rev.  Dr.  Burton,  saying: 

Tliis  First  Chiurch  of  Christ  was  the  pioneer  in  all  Christian  work 
here.  On  this  two  hundred  and  tiftieth  anniversary  it  tinds  itself  sur- 
rounded by  a  great  number  of  protestant  evangelical  churches  in  Hart- 
ford, with  which  it  is  in  full  fellowship,  and  several  of  which  were  col- 
onists from  its  own  fold.  Though  venerable  in  years,  the  voice  of  the 
old  pioneer  is  not  yet  silent.  It  is  still  heard  in  no  uncertain  tones, 
faithful  to  its  early  traditions,  bidding  these  churches  to  "stand  fast  in 
the  Lord." 

Dr.  Burton,  of  all  the  city  pastors,  has  been  the  longest  settled  in 
the  ministry,  and  we  will  ask  him  to  speak  for  them. 


ii8 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  N.  J.  BURTON. 

I  knew  beforehand,  that  during  these  two  great  days  of 
commemoration  and  jubilee,  it  would  be  intimated  more  than 
once  that  this  dear  old  First  Church  is  the  mighty  Mother  of 
all  the  other  Congregational  churches  in  this  city,  and  that  that 
is  one  of  the  reasons  why  she  ought  to  be  dear,  so  I  began  to 
stir  about  in  my  own  mind  over  two  questions :  First,  is  she 
the  progenitor  of  the  rest  of  us  in  any  reasonable  sense,  or 
even  in  any  imaginative  sense,  that  has  real  bottom  to  it ;  and 
secondly,  how  dear,  exactly,  is  she  to  all  of  us,  whether  as 
having  mothered  us,  or  for  any  other  reason,  but  particularly 
as  having  mothered  us. 

On  the  mother  question  I  found  myself  directly  in  an  open 
and  large  sea.  The  fact  is,  everything  is  large  these  two  days, 
and  all  the  people  here  who  have  any  historic  imagination  are 
in  a  great  state  of  enlargement,  and  could  speak  for  hours. 
But  is  the  First  church  as  much  of  a  mother  as'  most  men 
would  say  she  is.     Yes,  she  is.     And  here  are  the  evidences: 

First,  when  she  established  herself  here  originally  in  the 
wilderness,  she  diffused  through  the  ever  enlarging  commu- 
nity here  an  atmosphere  favorable  to  the  upspringing  of  other 
Christian  churches,  an  atmosphere  in  which  other  churches 
certainly  would  spring  up,  whether  she  put  them  forth  out  of 
her  own  bosom  or  not.  Supposing  this  church  had  been  a 
great  dram  shop,  or  a  trotting  park,  or  a  merchants'  exchange, 
or  an  insurance  company,  or  a  theater ;  would  the  atmosphere 
all  through  here  then  have  been  one  in  which  churches  would 
inevitably  spring  up.''  Not  at  all.  Exchanges  and  trotting 
courses,  and  all  sorts  of  this-world  companies,  have  flourished, 
often,  without  the  least  churchly  thing  coming  of  it,  but  this 
company  of  organized  believers  were  such  a  kind  of  company 
that  all  the  population  lying  about  were  magnetized  by  them, 
and  made  to  be  a  people  who  came  together  in  new  churches, 
church  after  church,  as  naturally  as  the  gregarious  animals 
assemble  and  make  herds. 

Again,  this  church,  being  deeply  experienced  in  the  things 


119 

of  God,  had  a  thorough-going  instinct  to  found  churches  like 
herself  all  about,  sending  forth  her  own  membership  for  that 
purpose ;  and  so  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  every  church 
of  our  order  ever  started  in  Hartford  has  drawn  upon  this 
church,  more  or  less,  for  its  first  members ;  as  also  for  its 
succeeding  members.  And  even  the  Baptists,  and  the  Pres- 
byterians, and  the  Methodists,  and  almost  everything  you  can 
think  of,  have  made  their  start  in  the  use  of  her  children, 
and,  as  the  years  have  flowed  on,  have  continually  replenished 
themselves  from  her  inexhaustible,  honest,  old  loins.  She  has 
not  raised  many  Roman  Catholics,  nor  many  Jews,  but  she 
has  raised  everything  else — not  willingly  or  of  original  inten- 
tion always,  but  because  she  could  not  help  it  in  some  cases. 
The  old  hen  hatched  an  occasional  duck,  as  I  heard  Dr. 
Bacon  say  once  concerning  another  matter,  but  she  was 
always  penitent  and  surprised  when  she  noticed  that  she  had 
done  it. 

Now,  a  church  which  has  no  excursive  impulse  is  like  a 
grain  of  wheat  that  had  rather  stay  bare  grain  than  to  sptout 
and  teem  in  harvests.  What  kind  of  wheat  is  that  .-*  Dead 
wheat,  probably.  But  this  first  church  was  not  dead.  It  had 
discovered  certain  things  which  it  wanted  the  whole  world 
to  know ;  it  had  had  pulsations  of  a  supernatural  life  which 
it  desired  to  have  reproduced  in  all  neighbor  souls  ;  therefore 
this  church  moved  out,  and  moved  out,  in  colonies,  which 
to-day  call  her  Mother. 

Moreover  she  is  our  mother  because  she  does  a  good  deal 
to  impose  on  us  her  own  form  of  faith  and  religious  experi- 
ence. I-cannot  deny  that  we,  the  rest  of  us,  have  sometimes 
tried  her  by  our  venturesome  experiments  of  doctrine,  and  so 
on.  When  she  designed  us  for  hens  we  struggled  to  be 
ducks,  till  it  seemed  to  her,  perhaps,  that  nobody  could  tell 
which  we  were.  As  I  said  before,  some  individuals  of  us 
went  clear  off  and  became  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  and 
Methodists;  and  of  those  who  remained  Congregationalists, 
some  lost  their  original,  clear  Calvinistic,  and  other,  color. 
The  late  Charles  Chapman  of  this  city  was  trying  to  buy  a 


120 

span  of  horses  of  a  horse  man  in  my  congregation,  years  ago, 
and  he  said :  "  Now,  Mr.  H.,  give  me  for  once  an  honest, 
moral  bargain ;  none  of  your  Fourth  church  morality,  but 
good  solid  Center  church  morality."  And,  in  the  same  line 
of  unpleasant  comparison  was  that  saying,  "As  honest  as  Dr. 
Hawes,"  which  used  to  be  afloat  a  good  deal  in  this  city,  I 
remember.  And  Dr.  Hawes  himself  was  once  guilty  of  a 
pretty  invidious  remark,  which  was  given  to  me  by  the  man 
and  minister  to  whom  he  made  it.  I  came  to  this  city  in 
1857,  and  about  the  same  time  came  Dr.  Parker  of  the  South 
church,  and  Dr.  Crane  of  the  South  Baptist  church,  and  then 
something  later  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Calkins,  Twichell,  and  per- 
haps some  others ;  all  young  men,  and  among  them  stood  old 
Dr.  Hawes,  noticing  their  young  ways,  and  the  rather  new 
and  modern  sound  of  their  gospel ;  and  he  did  not  always 
like  it.  And  he  had  a  conversation  on  the  subject  with  this 
aged  minister,  who  told  me  the  story ;  and  after  criticising  us 
in  some  respects,  and  admitting  a  few  things  in  our  favor, 
he  wound  up  and  said :  "  But  when  it  comes  to  preaching, 
brother  B.,  I  can  beat  the  whole  of  them." 

So  this  church  has  always  furnished  her  offshoot  churches 
their  norm  of  doctrine,  of  experience,  of  morality,  of  preach- 
ing, and  of  I  do  not  know  what  else.  We  have  modified  her 
motherly  teachings  a  little  now  and  then,  for  the  comfort  of 
our  own  minds  and  the  humoring  of  our  own  infirmities,  and 
she  has  looked  on  with  a  shade  of  anxiety  on  her  face,  it  may 
be,  but  we  have  never  intended  really  to  pull  away  from  her 
in  the  great  substantial  of  religion.  We  aim  at  her  morality. 
We  like  the  general  sound  of  her  doctrine.  We  delight  in 
that  evangelical  experience  into  which  she  trains  her  mem- 
bers. We  can  commune  cordially  with  her  in  her  sacraments. 
We  like  the  ministers  whom  she  calls  to  her  pulpit.  I  have 
known  five  of  them — Hawes,  Calkins,  Gould,  Richardson, 
and  Walker — and,  were  I  not  fearfully  cramped  for  time,  I 
would  make  a  rapid  sketch  of  them  that  anybody  could 
recognize  in  a  minute.  There  is  a  curious  amount  of  affec- 
tionate enjoyment  in  hunting  out  the  traits  and  idiosyncracies 


121 

of  able  and  good  men,  and  telling  of  them — especially  when 
Nature  has  fashioned  the  men  in  a  mould  made  on  purpose, 
and  then  has  broken  the  mould,  so  that  never  again  forever 
could  the  like  of  them  be  made.  How  impossible  that  a  man 
like  Dr.  Hawes  should  ever  be  duplicated  ! 

But  I  must  not  be  led  off  by  any  fond  recollections.  We 
love  the  Center  church  for  the  kind  of  ministers  she  is  Vv^ont 
to  call  into  her  service.  That,  among  other  things.  And 
we,  the  young  churches,  like  her  for  her  green  old  age.  A 
Chinese  lad  in  this  city,  complimenting  a  certain  lady  here, 
said  to  her,  "You  are  old,  but  you  are  green."  And  that  is 
what  we  say  to  this  First  church.  You  put  forth  every  token 
of  greenness.  You  are  "fat  and  flourishing."  You  "bring 
forth  fruit  in  old  age."  You  keep  anniversaries.  You  remem- 
ber your  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  look  down  on  the 
rest  of  us.  And  we  look  up  to  you,  which  is  our  way  of 
saying  that  you  have  a  right  to  a  great  self-consciousness. 
Neither  a  man  nor  a  church  amounts  to  anything  without 
a  self-consciousness  that  has  a  boom  in  it.  This  church 
threads  back  to  Thomas  Hooker  and  company,  and  along 
those  threads  come  all  sorts  of  thrills — especially  to-day. 
And  from  every  part  of  your  quarter  of  a  millenium  come 
thrills — thrills  of  corporate  life.  And  your  splendid  longevity, 
your  indestructible  corporate  vigor,  your  ability  to  say,  "  I  am 
old  but  I  am  green,"  has  its  explanation,  in  considerable  part, 
just  at  that  point,  in  your  historic  consciousness.  We  are 
proud  of  you.  We  love  you,  "With  all  your  faults  we 
love  you  still."  And,  with  all  our  faults  you  must  love  us 
still.  Yes,  you  must.  You  sit  high  up  to-day  as  our 
mother.  Well,  "can  a  mother  forget  her  sucking  child,  that 
she  shoultl  not  have  compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb  ?  " 
Therefore  you  must  have  compassion  on  us.  We  are  young 
and  little.  We  "are  of  yesterday  and  know  nothing."  Never- 
theless we  are  glad  to  be  here  in  the  murmur  and  bubble, 
and  the  tuneful  shout,  of  your  festivity.  We  are  old  enough 
to  feel  the  flow  of  the  great  recollections  that  inspirit  you 
i6 


122 

this   day.     We   wish  you   many  happy  returns   of  the  day. 
Why  not  ?     Remember  the  hymn  of  Bishop  Coxe: 

"  O,  where  are  kings  and  empires  now, 
Of  old,  that  went  and  came, 
But,  Lord,  thy  church  is  praying  yet, 
A  thousand  years  the  same. 

"  We  mark  her  goodly  battlements, 
And  her  foundations  strong, 
We  hear  within,  the  solemn  voice 
Of  her  unending  song. 

"  For  not  like  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
Thy  holy  church,  O  God. 
Though  earthquake  shocks  are  threatening  her, 
And  tempests  are  abroad, 

"  Unshaken  as  eternal  hills, 
Immovable  she  stands, 
A  mountain  that  shall  fill  the  earth, 
A  house  not  made  with  hands." 

Oh,  my  brethren,  in  what  a  great  fellowship  we  stand  to- 
day!  A  great  fellowship  of  the  living;  a  greater  fellowship 
of  the  dead !  For,  are  not  all  your  foregone  generations 
here — and  all  the  generations  of  your  future,  can  you  not  see 
them  flocking  in — and  can  you  not  hear  the  tumult  of  the 
jubilee  of  your  total  membership  and  multitude  when  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  have  become  the  kingdoms  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ. 


Mr.  Cone  said  :  The  most  cordial  relations  have  existed  between 
this  church  and  Yale  College.  Four  of  its  pastors  have  been  members 
of  the  Corporation.  Rev.  Timothy  Woodbridge  was  one  of  its  ten 
original  Corporators,  and  from  1700  to  the  time  of  iiis  death  in  1732 
continued  a  member.  He  took  great  and  earnest  interest  in  the  loca- 
tion of  that  institution  when  removed  from  Saybrook,  and  for  that 
reason  was  appointed  a  Representative  to  the  General  Court  (probably 
the  first  clerical  representative  ever  elected)  that  he  might  advocate  the 
location  of  the  college  in  or  near  Hartford.     As  some  compensation  for 


123 

his  defeat  in  that  endeavor,  I  think  we  are  entitled  to  hear  something 
from  the  college  to-night.  I  will  call  upon  its  president — Rev.  Dr. 
Porter. 

ADDRESS    OF    REV.  NOAH    PORTER. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  I  feel  that  I  ought  to 
respond  to  the  invitation  to  be  present  on  this  occasion  and 
address  you.  From  my  earliest  childhood  I  seem  to  have 
been  a  member  of  the  Center  Church  in  Hartford.  Hartford 
was  the  Jerusalem  to  which  the  tribes  came  up  from  the 
country  round,  and  the  Center  Church  was  their  magnifi- 
cent temple.  Dr.  Hawes  was  often  at  my  father's  house, 
and  I  recollect  the  stories  he  told  that  made  the  history  of 
the  church  in  the  last  century  seem  perfectly  familiar  to  me, 
and  made  me  regard  this  church  as  almost  the  nucleus  of  the 
greatest  and  most  comprehensive  interests  in  the  world.  It 
was  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  to  have  been  taught  to 
believe  that  the  interests  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  were  the 
greatest  interests  a  man  could  care  for.  In  my  earliest  boy- 
hood this  church  was  the  only  one  of  any  pretensions  in  this 
city.  Christ  Church  was  an  humble  wooden  structure,  and 
the  South  Church  was  an  old-fashioned  meeting-house  almost 
buried  in  the  sand.  Later  in  life,  as  I  have  frequently  made 
the  trip  from  Boston  to  Hartford  I  have  often  asked  myself 
where  did  this  company  of  Hooker's  lodge  night  after  night 
on  their  way  from  Boston  to  Springfield.  Was  it  at  Natick, 
and  Worcester,  and  Brookfield,  and  Warren,  and  Wilbraham, 
and  Springfield,  and  how  did  they  come  down  herefrom  thence 
by  the  lovely  Connecticut  meadows  .''  I  have  asked  these 
questions  because  I  had  learned  that  it  was  more  than  the 
First  Church  that  came  with  that  memorable  company. 
The  ark  those  emigrants  brought  with  them  was  more  than 
the  ark  of  this  church.  What  we  commemorate  to-day  is 
the  Hooker  spirit  which  then  began  to  move  and  has  ever 
since  been  marching  on.  Hooker  aspired  to  be  more  than 
the  pastor  of  a  church ;  he  aspired  to  be  the  founder  of  a 
colony.     The  colony  he  founded  is  the  parent  of  the  many 


124 

others  derived  from  these  Connecticut  settlers,  as  they  have 
gone  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

For  where  has  not  the  Connecticut  emigration  gone  ? 
And  where  is  it  not  to  be  found  ?  What  it  has  carried  is 
due  to  what  Hartford  was  and  what  John  Davenport  con- 
tributed from  New  Haven.  Where  are  its  representatives 
not  found  }  Where  are  its  enterprise  and  industry  unknown  ? 
Where  is  there  a  town  in  all  our  wide  land  without  its  insur- 
ance agent  ? 

We  are  proud  also  to  know  that  where  Hartford  is  repre- 
sented, there  the  fame  of  the  Center  Church,  its  zeal,  its 
liberality,  and  its  public  spirit  are  known.  It  is  not  unrea- 
sonable, then,  to  commemorate  these  first  beginnings  as  we  do 
this  day,  for  not  in  Hartford  alone  is  this  anniversary 
memorable.  The  history  of  this  church,  as  told  here  to-day, 
is  indeed,  as  we  must  confess,  a  history  of  strife,  and  the 
story  seems  at  times  sad  and  depressing.  But  those  who  have 
related  this  history  have  of  necessity  said  all  too  little  of  the 
brighter  and  more  cheering  sides  in  the  moving  and  coura- 
geous lives  of  the  devoted  men  and  women  whose  faith  and 
heroism  are  worthy  all  recollection.  The  outcome  of  these 
strifes  has  been  progress  in  every  particular  in  which  the 
church  should  make  progress — in  the  spiritual  life  and  its 
application  to  daily  duties,  in  its  conception  of  man's  obliga- 
tion to  his  fellow  man  here  and  every  where,  and  of  his 
spiritual  advances  toward  God. 

Not  one  of  us  perhaps  would  now  receive  the  dogmas  of 
the  old  catechisms  were  they  to  be  presented  for  our  accept- 
ance. But  this  would  not  imply  that  they  did  not  contain 
the  same  gospel  that  is  preached  to-day,  but  that  in  all  those 
catechisms  and  creeds  there  abound  scholastic  interpreta- 
tions due  to  the  theology  of  the  schools.  Progress  here  is 
not  only  our  glory  but  it  is  our  highest  commendation. 

As  we  recount  this  history  we  see  too  that  the  same  ques- 
tions return  generation  after  generation,  and  are  answered 
better  in  each  successive  year.  We  deplore  the  strife  and 
loss,  but  we  have  come  to  know  by  slow  experience  that  in 


125 

many  things  Congregational  Churches  may  agree  to  differ — 
and  be  charitable.  In  this,  as  in  other  particulars,  the  Center 
Church  has  set  a  good  example.  Dr.  Hawes  strove  to  recon- 
cile charity  and  justice,  to  the  truth,  and  he  strove  success- 
fully. 

A  few  years  ago,  at  Oxford,  I  was  asked  by  one  of  the 
professors  in  that  ancient  university,  to  what  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  I  belonged.  I  replied,  to  the  Congrega- 
tional, the  mother  church  of  New  England.  With  all  its 
advantages  and  all  its  durabilities  the  Congregational 
Churches  have  occupied  this  place  in  New  England  from  the 
first,  and  pre-eminently  in  Connecticut.  Every  town  in  Con- 
necticut is  in  some  sense  a  bud  of  the  original  germ  from 
which  the  original  township  derived  its  growth.  With  the 
end  of  this  two  and  a  half  centuries  it  becomes  us  to  look 
around  and  inquire  whether  we  still  believe  in  that  simple 
polity  resting  as  it  does  upon  the  Christian  principles  of 
comprehensive  charity,  and  earnest  consecration,  which  the 
genius  of  our  system  has  taught  us  to  hold  and  ought  to 
teach  us  to  exemplify. 


Mr.  Cone  said  ;  Cambridge  was  not  only  tlie  place  where  Thomas 
Hooker  first  landed  and  this  church  was  organized,  but  four  of  its  pas- 
tors were  educated  at  Harvard.  I  believe  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale  is 
one  of  its  trustees  and  perhaps  is  otherwise  connected  with  the  univer- 
sity.    We  should  be  glad  to  hear  from  him. 

ADDRESS  OF   EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE. 

The  officers  and  graduates  of  Harvard  College  will  be 
glad  to  know  that  they  are  remembered  in  your  festival.  It 
is  impossible  to  go  back  into  our  early  history  at  Cambridge, 
without  coming  upon  the  traces  of  that  history,  still  earlier, 
of  your  church  which  Dr.  Walker  has  traced  along  for  us  in 
that  address  which  has  so  fascinated  us  to-day.  I  have  been 
tempted  to  ask,  indeed,  whether  the  reason  for  establishing 


126 

Harvard  College  at  Cambridge,  were  not  the  desire  to  fill 
the  blank  which  was  left  there,  when  such  a  candlestick  as 
the  church  of  Hooker  and  Stone  was  removed.  This  is 
certain,  that  Hooker's  distance  from  Cambridge  did  not 
diminish  his  interest  in  the  establishment  of  the  college : 
and  it  would  seem  that  he  was  consulted  in  regard  to  the 
plans  for  it  when,  in  1637  he  returned  to  Cambridge  and 
served  as  moderator  of  the  Synod.  Dr.  Walker  has  told  us 
that  the  first  four  ministers  of  your  church,  after  the  death 
of  Stone,  were  our  graduates.  Of  this  we  have  reason  to 
be  proud.  But  we  are  even  more  proud  that  our  children 
had  the  power  to  carry  forward  on  new  soil  the  work  which 
Cambridge  saw  begun.  For  it  is  only  two  generations  after 
the  planting  of  Hartford,  that  in  that  celebrated  meeting  of 
the  ten  ministers  who  founded  Yale  College  in  1700,  you  find 
nine  Harvard  names  of  men  eager  to  establish  here  also  the 
highest  and  best  education.  So  that  Harvard  may  take  all 
the  satisfaction  of  a  grandmother  as  she  observes  that  the 
First  Church,  so  soon  as  Connecticut  had  a  college  of  her  own, 
took  her  pastors  from  those  who  were  home-bred  ;  the  fruits 
of  the  college  which  the  ten  famous  ministers  established  at 
New  Haven. 

If  we  look  outside  the  annals  of  this  church  into  the 
larger  history  of  this  State  of  Connecticut,  whose  birthday 
also  we  are  celebrating,  we  see,  from  the  very  beginning,  that 
that  history  exhibits  in  concrete  and  visible  form  the  appli- 
cation, both  on  the  largest  and  on  the  smallest  scale,  of  the 
Principles  which  Hooker  stands  for  and  which  this  church 
represents.  Does  any  one  ask  how  it  happened  that  all  the 
territory  in  the  Bay,  now  occupied  by  the  towns  of  Cam- 
bridge, Brighton,  and  Newton,  was  two  narrow  for  Hooker 
and  his  congregation  and  their  cattle, — the  answer  is  clear 
enough  to  any  one  who  remembers  what  Hooker  was  and 
what  he  taught.  It  is  confessed  frankly  enough  by  Hub- 
bard in  his  history,  that  "  after  Mr.  Hooker's  coming  over  it 
was  observed  that  many  of  the  freemen  grew  to  be  jealous 
of  their  liberties."     Jealous   of  their  liberties  !     There  was 


127 

plenty  of  room  for  the  cattle,  but  there  was  not  room 
enough  for  the  people.  It  is  clear  enough  to  anybody  who 
will  read  Hooker's  friendly  correspondence  with  Winthrop, 
that  the  removal  of  this  candlestick  from  the  Bay  lo  this 
river,  is  the  friendly  but  positive  assertion  of  absolute  Repub- 
licanism ;  or,  if  you  please,  of  pure  Democracy.  The  notion 
that  "  all  the  people  are  wiser  than  any  one  of  the  people," 
the  notion  that  Government  is  to  be  "of  the  people,  for  the 
people,  by  the  people,"  is  foreshadowed  in  the  epigrams  of 
Hooker,  and  it  is  clear  enough  that  Haynes  came  to  share 
such  sentiments.  Now,  what  is  more  interesting  than  any 
antiquarian  discovery  of  an  early  proclamation  of  such 
opinions  as  theories,  is  the  steady  and  determined  way  in 
*  which  the  Republic  of  Connecticut,  which  from  such  senti- 
ments was  born,  has,  in  the  detail  of  daily  life  carried  them 
out,  even  for  the  whole  country,  among  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men,  and  in  every  range  of  public  or  of  private 
affairs. 

I  do  not  know  how  many  of  those  in  this  audience  may 
have  seen  an  old-fashioned  paper  of  English  pins.  Such  a 
paper  of  pins  had  on  it  the  announcement  that  it  was  made 
by  So  AND  So,  "Pin-maker  to  His  Majesty."  When  a 
Connecticut  pin-maker  issues  his  paper  of  pins,  he  puts 
upon  it  the  words  "Pin-maker  to  the  Universe."  That  epi- 
gram,— meant  for  a  joke, — expresses  exactly  the  work  which 
this  State  has  taken  in  hand,  from  the  beginning: — the  work 
which  I  call  democracy  in  the  concrete  or  in  practice.  It  is 
the  extending  to  the  rank  and  file, — to  the  humblest  of  the 
people, — the  privileges  which  had  belonged  to  monarchs,  or 
to  a  hierarchy.  I  remember  perfectly  what  was  the  first 
impression  I  had  as  a  child,  of  this  city.  It  was  in  riding  in 
the  least  settled  part  of  Massachusetts.  Passing  some  little 
house,  far  separated  from  any  neighbor,  a  house  perhaps  of 
the  smallest  and  cheapest,  I  saw  the  little  tin  plate  which 
announced  that  it  was  "  insured  at  Hartford."  You  know, 
sir,  that  I  should  travel  far  indeed  on  the  frontier  of  this 
nation,  before  I  should  go  farther  than  the  agents  of  Hart- 


128 

ford  insurance  have  gone.  What  is  that  work, — the  work  by 
which  Connecticut  gives  to  the  poorest  of  squatters  the 
same  confidence  and  security  which  princes  have  in  their 
palaces, — but  the  extension  to  each  and  all  of  the  people, 
of  the  privilege  which  before  belonged  to  wealth  alone.  It 
is  not  that  Connecticut  invents  insurance.  The  history  of 
insurance  runs  far  back  in  history  ;  and,  like  most  things  in 
modern  history  which  are  good  for  much,  it  was  born  of  one 
of  the  organizations  of  the  Christian  church.  But  the  mak- 
ing it  universal, — that  is  the  democratic  Connecticut  idea, — 
the  giving  to  the  poorest  and  weakest,  what  had  been  given 
only  to  the  strongest  and  the  richest.  And,  if  I  rightly 
understand  the  genius  of  Connecticut,  the  translation  into 
practice  of  this  idea  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  of  her  greatest 
successes.  By  making  the  settler  in  Oregon  join  hands 
with  the  nabob  in  New  York,  for  the  insurance  of  who  shall 
say  how  many  homes  between  sunrise  and  sunset,  the  men 
who  worked  out  the  po{3ularising  of  insurance  carried  into 
practice  Hooker's  epigrams,  which  meant  only  that  we  should 
bear  each  other's  burdens  and  so  fulfill  Christ's  law. 

Just  the  same  principle  underlies  every  successful  effort 
which  Connecticut  has  made  for  education.  Your  schools 
have  succeeded  when  you  worked  on  this  principle,  and 
they  have  failed  if  you  ever  abandoned  it.  Some  twenty 
years  ago,  I  knew  somewhat  intimately  a  gentleman  whoui 
the  French  Emperor  had  sent  through  America  to  study  our 
system  of  public  education.  He  traversed  Canada  first,  and 
then  the  Western  and  Middle  States,  and  came  last  of  all  to 
New  England.  Everywhere  he  found  that  the  teachers  of 
the  schools,  higher  and  lower,  came  from  Connecticut  and 
from  Massachusetts.  "  The  thing  has  no  parallel  in  history," 
he  said  to  me.  "  Never  in  history  shall  you  read,  that  two  small 
provinces  furnish  the  teachers  for  all  the  rest  of  a  nation." 
When  he  asked  for  statistics  of  the  matter  no  one  could  tell 
him.  "When  I  come  to  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts," 
he  said,  "  I  shall  learn.  They  will  know  how  many  of  their 
sons  and  daughters  are   teaching  in  the   schools  of   other 


129 

States.  And  now  I  come  here,"  said  he,  "  nobody  cares  for  it 
one  straw.'"  That  was  true  enough.  People  here  took  it  for 
granted  that  every  son  or  daughter  who  went  to  the  West  or 
to  the  South,  knew  enough  to  be  a  teacher  in  the  schools, 
if  there  were  occasion.  That  is  to  say,  education  had  not 
been  a  privilege  of  this  class  of  clerics,  or  that  class  of 
noblemen.  It  was  the  right  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men. 

And  this  goes  much  farther  than  the  mere  distribution  of 
teachers  to  the  land.  There  are  better  teachers  than  school- 
masters. Who  but  your  Hartford  publishers  invented  and 
carried  out  the  system  of  the  popular  distribution  of  books, 
which  carries  to  the  log-cabin  the  book  which  in  old  times 
vv'as  the  luxury  of  the  palace  .''  Abraham  Lincoln  read  by  a 
pine  knot  light  half  a  dozen  of  the  master-pieces  of  English 
literature.  How  did  he  have  those  books  to  read  .-'  I  do  not 
know.  But  any  man  who  knows  America,  and  the  frontier 
of  that  day,"  knows  the  agency  by  which  he  attained  them 
directly  or  indirectly.  It  was  from  the  hands  of  the  much 
ridiculed,  and  never  yet  sufficiently  extolled,  Connecticut 
peddler  ;  the  mediator  between  civilization  and  barbarism ;  the 
agent  of  this  same  determination  which  is  latent  in  the 
aphorism  of  Hooker  that  the  settler  in  his  log-cabin  shall 
enjoy,  if  he  will,  the  best  luxuries  of  the  prince  born  in  the 
purple.  Let  me  make  my  own  personal  acknowledgment. 
It  was  when  I  was  a  student  of  divinity,  who  counted  twice 
every  penny  of  expenses,  that  a  Connecticut  book-agent  sold 
me  for  a  dollar  that  Vade  Mecum  of  poor  Cruden  which  he 
could  not  publish  without  the  patronage  of  Queen  Caroline. 
"  Indispensable  to  ministers."  "  It  should  be  in  everybody's 
librar)'."  This  is  what  the  high  and  mighty  critics  say. 
Yes.  But  how  is  it  to  come  into  "  everybody's  library"  under 
the  hierarchical  and  aristocratic  methods  of  publishing  of 
old  times.  That  it  shall  be  in  everybody's  library  you  need 
what  I  call  democracy  in  the  concrete  :  as  it  was  exemplified 
first  by  the  men  of  Connecticut  to  mankind. 

But  in  such  illustrations,  sir,  I  am  trespassing  upon 
17 


130 

ground  which  is  much  better  known  by  the  practical  men 
who  sit  before  me.  Any  one  of  them  would  tell  us  that  the 
reason  why  the  city  of  Hartford  is,  in  proportion  to  its 
numbers,  the  richest  city  in  the  world,  is  this, — that  the 
industries  of  Hartford  and  the  commerce  of  Hartford  have 
adapted  themselves  always  to  the  needs  not  only  of  the  richest 
and  highest,  but  of  the  poorest  and  weakest  of  God's  children 
as  well.  There  is  not  the  corner  of  the  world  to  which  their 
manufactures  do  not  penetrate, — there  is  no  class  in  social 
order  but  is,  in  the  long  run,  elevated  by  their  courage, 
promptness,  and  ingenuity.  It  is  in  this  spirit  of  those  early 
aphorisms  of  Hooker  that  your  legislation  first  brought  out 
that  ingenious  system  of  copartnership  by  which,  under  a 
general  statute,  limited  companies  of  men  may  unite  without 
difficulty  for  any  designated  purpose  of  manufacture.  The 
success  of  that  legislation  of  Connecticut  has  led  to  the 
adoption  of  that  principle,  not  simply  in  all  the  industrial 
States  of  this  Union,  but  in  the  industrial  legislation  of  the 
world.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  in  that  solution  of  the  problem 
of  co-operative  industry,  the  legislation  of  Connecticut  led 
the  way  for  the  world.  The  principle  was  older.  The 
Connecticut  legislator  of  this  century  could  have  found  it 
stated  in  the  words  of  Governor  Haynes,  or  in  these  letters 
of  Thomas  Hooker.  Thomas  Hooker  had  learned  it  when 
St.  Paul  taught  him  that  we  are  to  "  bear  one  another's 
burdens  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  It  is  that  principle 
which,  when  it  expresses  itself  in  political  organization  comes 
out  in  the  government  of  the  people  for  the  people,  by  the 
people.  It  makes  real  in  the  concrete  the  central  statement 
of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 


131 


Mr.  Cone  said :  Hon.  John  Hooker,  a  worthy  descendant  of  the 
first  pastor  of  this  Church,  we  hoped  to  have  heard  to-night,  that 
we  might  from  this  living  link  imbibe  somewhat  of  the  spirit  of  his 
ancestor,  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker.  His  health  does  not  permit  him  to 
be  here,  but  I  will  call  upon  his  son,  Dr.  Edward  B.  Hooker. 

He  said : 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  Mr.  Hooker  is  not  here  to  say 
himself  the  word  that  should  be  spoken  by  a  descendant  of 
Thomas  Hooker.  But  as  it  is  fitting  on  this  occasion  that 
some  one  bearing  the  family  name  should  speak,  to  me  a  few 
hours  ago  was  relegated  the  privilege  of  saying  a  few  words. 

And  the  thought  that  comes  to  me,  after  laying  flowers  on 
our  ancestor's  grave,  after  contemplating  the  shaft  raised  to 
the  memory  of  the  noble  men  who  came  with  him  and  on 
which  is  inscribed  their  names,  after  listening  to  the  address 
of  the  afternoon,  is  this :  While  honoring  the  fathers  from 
whom  we  have  come  we  must  not  forget  the  mothers.  They 
alike  braved  the  dangers  and  endured  the  privations  of  that 
early  time ;  their  earnest  prayers  and  cheering  words  sustained 
the  men  in  hours  of  distress  and  gloom. 

That  courageous  woman,  borne  tenderly  on  a  litter,  too 
weak  to  walk  or  ride,  too  brave  to  be  left  behind,  may  well 
be  compared  to  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  which  the  children 
of  Israel  bore  with  them  in  their  journey  through  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  promised  land.  She  was  really  a  sacred  emblem 
of  all  that  was  pure  and  holy.  And  the  women  founders  of 
New  England,  unknown  to  fame,  were  really  the  conservators 
of  the  purity  and  spirituality  of  the  church  and  society,  and 
to  them  we  owe  as  great  a  debt  as  to  the  grand  men  whom 
history  loves  to  commemorate  and  honor. 

Let  us  therefore  honor  our  fathers  and  our  mothers,  that 
our  days  may  be  long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  our  God 
hath  given  us ! 

Filled  with  the  same  thought,  my  father,  unable  to  be 
present,  has  sent  me  these  lines  to  read : 


132 

THE  WOMEN  FOUNDERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Ye  grand  men  of  our  early  day, 
Who  here  for  freedom  made  a  way, 
With  faith  and  prayer  and  quoten  Word, 
Yet  coat  of  mail  and  girded  sword  ; 
Who  laid  in  strength  the  founded  State, 
And  o'er  it  sat  to  legislate  ; 
And  oft  in  magistracy  stood 
Before  th'  admiring  multitude  ; 
Who  felt  th'  inspiring  sense  of  power 
And  thrill  of  the  victorious  hour ; 
And  saw  afar  that  grateful  fame 
Would  cherish  every  hero's  name  ; 
— The  schoolboy  at  his  lesson  reads 
Th'  inspiring  record  of  your  deeds ; 
The  public  eye  on  canvas  sees 
Your  conflicts  fierce  and  victories  ; 
The  monumental  shaft  is  reared 
To  keep  your  names  for  aye  revered. 

But  there  were  hearts  of  purest  gold 
Whose  tale  of  courage  ne'er  was  told  ; 
True  heroes,  who  no  armor  wore, 
Yet  shared  the  perils  that  ye  bore  ; 
Braving,  with  courage  none  the  less, 
The  savage  and  the  wilderness  ; 
Clothed  with  no  power  in  church  or  state, 
No  word  in  worship  or  debate  ; 
With  faith-lit  brow  and  helping  hand, 
Asking  but  by  your  side  to  stand  ; 
Who  had  no  hope  a  later  day 
Its  tribute  of  renown  would  pay  ; 
Who  made  their  sad  self-sacrifice 
Before  no  world's  admiring  eyes  ; 
Of  men's  remembrance  thinking  not, 
Content  to  toil  and  be  forgot. 

Ah,  when  the  heroes  of  that  time 
Are  numbered  on  God's  book  sublime, 
High  on  the  roll  of  that  true  fame 
Many  a  gentle  woman's  name. 
Which  earth  had  cared  not  to  record, 
Shall  stand  writ  Valiant  for  the  Lord. 


Friday  Morning. 


THE  MEETING-HOUSES  OETHE  EIRST  CHURCH. 

BY    ROWLAND    SWIFT. 

The  founders  of  our  beloved  Church  built  their  first  house 
of  worship  at  Newtown  almost  a  year  before  the  date  which 
we  recognize  as  the  birthday  of  the  organization.  Immedi- 
ately after  their  arrival  in  1632,  "Mr.  Hooker's  company" 
proceeded  by  order  of  court  from  Mount  Wollaston  to  New- 
town. But  few  actual  settlers  had  preceded  them  ;  these  but 
by  a  few  months,  and  to  but  little  purpose.  The  earliest 
records  of  the  town  bear  date  of  the  29th  of  March  before, 
but  there  is,  I  believe,  no  evidence  of  public  religious  service 
having  been  held  before  their  appearance  upon  the  ground, 
and  our  ancestors  found  matters  altogether  not  yet  vigor- 
ously in  progress  towards  the  establishment  and  development 
of  the  ideal  Christian  community. 

But  their  immediate  task  seemed  appointed  already,  as  if 
the  spirit  of  the  absent  Hooker  prompted  them  to  it,  and  as 
eagerly  as  they  hastened  to  spread  a  sheltering  roof  over 
their  wives  and  babes,  they  wrought  to  prepare  a  house  for 
religious  and  public  service ;  and  so  diligently  that  it  was 
completed  within  the  remaining  months  of  the  year. 

Of  this  pioneer  structure  but  few  particulars,  either  of 
historical  or  architectural  interest,  can  be  confidently  asserted. 
There  is  but  rare  and  indifferent  mention  of  it  to  be  met 
with  in  the  literature  of  the  time.  Sessions  of  the  General 
Court  were  in  the  early  days  often  convened  here.  Within 
it  we  know  were  gathered  upon  memorable  occasions  the 
"teaching  elders  through  the  country  and  others  sent  by  the 
churches"  who  constituted  the  famous  Synods  of  1637  and 
1647.  Here  was  the  birthplace  of  the  Cambridge  Platform  ; 
and  before  that  interesting  date  the  fame  of  the  Cambridge 


136 

preacher  had  made  the  house  a  place  of  sacred  resort  from 
all  the  region  about — to  the  conscientious  Winthrop  himself 
among  many  others  who,  on  one  occasion,  felt  it  necessary  to 
protest  in  his  own  behalf,  "though  the  governour  did  very 
seldom  go  from  his  own  congregation  upon  the  Lord's  day." 
As  an  architectural  affair  it  was  not  grand.  Of  its  actual 
dimensions  we  have  scarcely  a  suggestion,  except  from  subse- 
quent data  and  some  plausible  comparisons  which  give  us 
ideas  about  the  facts. 

The  few  buildings  of  its  kind  of  the  first  decade  of  New 
England  church  history  were,  no  doubt,  very  uniform  as  to 
size ;  and  if  this  were  no  larger  than  that  built  at  Dedham 
in  1638*  it  could  be  placed  erect  before  me  upon  this  floor 
between  this  pulpit  and  the  third  columns  on  the  right  and 
left  and  within  these  galleries,  with  room  for  a  good  generous 
pair  of  doorsteps  at  the  front  and  either  side  included.  We 
may  infer,  too,  that  this  is  not  an  unreasonable  estimate 
of  its  size,  and  that  it  did  not  much  e.xceed  this,  if  at  all, 
because  it  became  much  too  small  in  a  few  years,  after  the 
Hartford  emigration,  and  after  another  church  had  been 
gathered,  so  that  to  meet  later  requirements  for  space,  pro- 
posals to  repair,  were,  in  1649,  defeated,  and  another  edifice 
was  ordered  and  built,  and  this  successor  would  extend  in 
length  to  cover  only  the  space  just  now  given,  with  only  a 
width  contained  inside  the  lines  of  the  north  and  south  aisles. 

We  can  only  with  difficulty  appreciate  the  necessary 
simplicity  and  rudeness  of  its  construction  and  finish.  The 
edifice  for  the  Boston  and  Charlestown  congregation,  built 
in  the  same  year,  is  said  to  have  had  mud  walls  and  a 
thatched  roof,  but  this  one  doubtless  was  built  of  logs,  the 
roof  covered  with  riven  boards;  thatch  having  been  prohibited 
by  agreement.!  The  windows  were  of  a  cheerless  model; 
little  apertures  for  admission  of  light,  perhaps  covered  with 

*36  feet  in  length,  by  23  feet  in  width. — Dr.  Lanison,  Cent.  Dis.,  1S38. 

t"  Further  it  is  agreed  that  all  houses  within  the  bounds  of  the  town  shall 
be  covered  [with]  slate  or  board,  and  not  with  thatch." — Camb.  Town  Rec, 
Jan.  7,  1622-3.     Paige,  p.  l8. 


137 

linen  or  other  semi-transparency  rather  than  glass,  and  it  is 
very  questionable  whether  they  were  not  for  the  most  part 
left  open  altogether,  and  the  entrance  also;  for  Johnson  says 
of  the  habitations  of  the  neighborhood,  "They  had  scarce 
houses  to  slielter  themselves,  and  no  doors  to  hinder  the 
Indians  access  to  all  they  had  in  them.  * 

An  episode  of  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  Synod  of  1648 
does  not  indicate  much  advance  or  improvement  in  this 
regard  for  the  next  fifteen  years,  and  may  suggest  not  inap- 
propriate estimates  of  the  completeness  or  incompleteness 
of  the  joinery  about  the  house,  and  incidentally  some  ideas 
of  other  things  as  well.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Allen  of  Dedham  was 
preaching  before  the  Synod  and,  according  to  our  relator, 
"  a  very  godly,  learned,  and  particular  handling  of  near  all 
the  doctrines  and  applications  concerning  that  subject,  with 
a  clear  discovery  and  refutation  of  such  errors,  objections, 
and  scruples  as  had  been  raised  about  it  by  some  young 
heads  in  the  country.  It  fell  out  about  the  midst  of  his 
sermon  there  came  a  snake  into  the  seat  where  many  of  the 
elders  sate  behind  the  preacher.  It  came  in  at  the  door 
where  people  stood  thick  upon  the  stairs.  Divers  of  the 
elders  shifted  from  it,  but  Mr.  Thompson,  one  of  the  elders 
of  Braintree  (a  man  of  much  faith),  trode  upon  the  head  of 
it  and  so  held  it  with  his  foot  and  staft"  with  a  small  pair 
of  grains  until  it  was  killed.  This  being  so  remarkable 
and  nothing  falling  out  but  by  divine  providence  it  is  out  of 
doubt  the  Lord  discovered  somewhat  of  his  mind  in  it.  The 
serpent  is  the  devil;  the  Synod  the  representative  of  the 
churches-of  Christ  in  New  England.  The  devil  had  formerly 
and  lately  attempted  their  disturbance  and  dissolution,  but 
their  faith  in  the  seed  of  the  woman  overcame  him  and  crushed 
his  head."  Governor  Winthrop,  whose  words  I  have  given 
you  verbatim,  adds  immediately:  '•  The  vSynod  went  on  com- 
fortably"— and  whether  his  remark  refers  to  ensuing  discus- 
sions or  deliverance  from  further  snakish  or  satanic  intrusions 
we  must  take  his  word  for  it,  and  believe  as  well  as  we  can 

*  Wonder  Working  Providence:  Mass,  liist.  Coll.,  vol.  xiii,  138. 
iS 


138 

that  at  least  during  the  parts  of  the  years  when  S3'nods  met, 
it  was,  in  some  respects,  a  "comfortable"  house. 

Of  course  there  were  no  galleries  ;  there  was  not  height 
to  admit  them.  Scarcely  was  there  a  suggestion  of  the  pul- 
pit of  the  days  to  come — how  could  there  be  .''  There  was 
no  ceiling  or  plaster ;  no  place  for  a  fire ;  it  was  not  time  for 
this  by  almost  two  hundred  years,  and  if  the  necessity  had 
been  found  the  broad  wooden  chimneys,  such  as  were  used 
in  their  little  dwellings  would  not  have  answered  here,  and 
neither  lime  or  brick  with  which  to  build  others,  tiles  or  glass 
were  made  in  the  vicinity  for  about  eight  years  to  come  ;  not 
so  soon  as  Stephen  Day's  printing  presses  were  at  work  in 
the  town.  These  were  established  there  in  1638.*  There 
were  only  rugged  and  comfortless  benches  for  seats  ;  the  old- 
time  pews  being  luxuries  or  miseries  of  much  later  date  ;  and 
still,  as  if  there  were  luxury  in  some  way  associated  with 
what  was  accounted  a  propriety  they  were  by  authority  desig- 
nated for  occupancy  according  to  the  dignity  of  persons, 
families,  or  estates  ;  the  deacon's  seat,  no  more  restful  or 
elegant  than  that  of  the  magistrate  or  of  others,  you  may  be 
sure,  was  declared  by  a  writer  of  the  period  to  be  "  the  most 
eminent  place  in  the  church  next  under  the  elders'  seats."! 

This,  our  first  house  of  Avorship,  has  not  in  any  vestige 
known  to  the  eye  of  man  survived  its  century.  We  may 
make  the  most  flattering  construction  of  every  hint  of  histo- 
rian or  poet  regarding  it,  and  gain  hardly  anything  to  enhance 
or  beautify  the  contracted  and  rough  picture  of  it.  The 
imagination  cools  under  the  contemplation  of  such  difificult 
worship  as  only  would  seem  to  be  possible  in  a  place  so  bar- 
ren of  modern  or  ancient  accessories  or  in  the  rigorous 
atmosphere  of  the  winter's  Sabbath  day.  Not  here,  indeed, 
you  think  would  have  been  born  the  inspiration  that  wrote  : 

"  My  willing  soul  would  stay 
In  such  a  frame  as  this, 
And  sit  and  sing  herself  away 
To  everlasting  bliss !  " 

*Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  vi,  376-7.  t  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  .\.\iii,  76. 


139 

But  you  will  remember  it  was  not  always  winter.  Vernal 
glories  were  ordained  to  dissipate  and  supplant  the  charm  of 
the  frosts.  Summer  came  in  her  time  to  hallow  the  conse- 
crated shades  till  autumn  suns  shining  through  the  ripening 
leaves  and  fruits  helped  to  make  the  way  hither  inviting,  and 
the  repose  and  the  praise  of  this  dear  sanctuary  joyous  and 
tranquilizing  as  if  here  were  the  very  gate  of  heaven.  It 
was  the  cradle  of  our  infant  church.  It  was  the  cradle  of 
the  Connecticut  Commonwealth.  Summer  and  winter,  while 
our  fathers  were  there  it  was  radiant  with  the  glow  of  devout 
worship,  and  happy  with  the  delicious  intensity  of  their  first 
tastes  of  freedom  in  worship ! 

At  any  rate,  through  four  most  dreary  winters  ;  through 
the  three  more  hospitable  summers  that  intervened,  thev 
had  their  holy  assemblies  under  this  roof ;  where,  upon  the 
peaked  summit  that  covered  them,  they  hung,  in  1632,  the  first 
New  England  church  bell,*  and,  save  one  at  Jamestown,  Va., 
I  have  failed  to  find  so  early  record  of  any  other  within  the 
territory  now  included  in  the  United  States.f 

This  bell,  it  seems,  must  have  followed  the  migrating  church 
in  1636,  and  doubtless  was  the  one  which  first  sounded  from 
the  first  meeting-house  at  Hartford.  Certain  it  is  that  in 
the  year  of  the  removal  it  was  no  longer  to  be  heard  at  New- 
town, and  a  drum  had  been  substituted  for  it,  |  and  not  till 

*  In  this  year  (1632)  is  built  the  first  house  for  public  worship  at  Newtown 
(after  called  Cambridge)  v/ith  a  bell  upon  it. — Prince,  ii,  75. 

"That  every  person  undersubscribed shall  (meet)  every  first  Monday  in  every 
month  within  the  meeting-houses  in  the  afternoon  within  half  (an  hour)  after 
the  ringing  of  the  bell." — Cambridge  Records,  Dec.  24,  1632.     Paige,  p.  17. 

t  For  reference  to  this  old  Jamestown  bell,  see  Purchas,  His  Pilgrims :  Lon- 
don, 1725,  vol.  iv,  p.  1748,  in  W^m.  Strachy's  "A  true  reportory  of  the  wracke 
and  redemption  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Knight  vpon  and  from  the  Islands  of 
the  Bermudas,  his  coming  to  Virginia,"  &c. :  "  From  Hence  in  two  days,  (only  by 
the  helpe  of  Tydes,  no  winde  stirring)  wee  plyed  it  sadly  vp  the  River  and  the 
three  and  twentieth  of  May,  1610  we  cast  Anchor  before  lames  Towne  where 
v.e  landed  and  our  much  grieued  Gouernour  first  visiting  the  church  caused  the 
Bell  to  be  rung,  at  which  (all  such  as  were  able  to  come  forth  of  their  houses) 
repayred  to  church." 

I  Johnson,  Wonder  V^'orking  Providence,  p.  103. 


140 

1648  do  we  hear  of  another  one  at  Cambridge.*  Mr.  Hooker's 
company,  who  doubtless  brought  it  with  them  at  the  first, 
prized  it  too  highly,  we  must  conclude,  to  leave  it  behind  them 
in  Massachusetts.  They  had  been  at  great  pains  to  bring  it 
there.  Its  .sweet  call  out  to  the  wilds  about  their  first  settle- 
ment they  had  prayed  might  be  "  as  the  voice  of  one  crying 
in  the  wilderness,"  while  every  vibration  from  it  had  brought 
to  their  dwellings  precious  and  often  very  sad  memories  of 
their  dear  forsaken  land  and  their  dear  Sabbaths  beyond  the 
seas ! 

The  first  beginnings  of  the  new  town  on  the  Connecticut 
centered  closely  around  another,  their  second  house  of  worship, 
— planned  before  the  removal  of  any  of  their  number, — 
placed  very  nearly  to  the  extreme  southeast  corner  of  the 
present  Post-ofliice  square,  and  as  in  the  former  instance  at 
Cambridge,  this  building,  such  as  it  was,  doubtless  adapted 
only  for  temporary  use,  appears  to  have  been  made  ready 
before  the  arrival  of  the  pastor  upon  the  ground. 

From  the  brief  and  harrowing  data  relating  to  the  first  im- 
■  migration  hither,  dating  1635,  ^^i^  ^^^  return  to  Cambridge  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  immigrants  in  midwinter,  we  are  hardly 
prepared  to  expect  from  the  annals  of  that  half  year  very 
much  that  reads  like  the  establishment  of  civil  and  rehgious 
order.  Nevertheless,  the  old  and  original  record  of  our  town 
fixes  the  date  of  1635  to  an  ordinance  which  assumes  a  great 
deal,  and  proceeds  as  follows  :  "  It  is  ordered  that  there  shall 

be  a  guard  of men  to  attend   with   arms  fixed  and  two 

shot  of  powder  and  shot  at  least  at  every  public  meeting  for 
religious  use  ;  with  two  sergeants  to  oversee  the  same  and 
to  keep  out  one  of  them  sentinel  at  every  meeting ;  and  the 
said  guard  to  be  freed  from  warding  and  to  have  seats  pro- 
vided near  the  meeting-house  door ;   and  the  sergeant    to 

*  Ordered,  that  there  shall  be  an  eight  penny  ordinary  provided  for  the  towns- 
men every  second  Monday  of  the  month  upon  their  meeting  day  and  that 
whosoever  of  the  townsmen  fail  to  be  present  within  half  an  hour  of  the  ring- 
ing of  the  bell  he  shall  both  lose  his  dinner  and  pay  a  pint  of  sack  or  the  value 
to  the  present  townsmen. — Camb.  Rec,  1648. 


141 

repair  to  the  magistrate  for  a  warrant  for  the  due  execution 
thereof."  So  then,  haply,  you  may  vary  the  scene  somewhat 
as  you  think  of  that  forlorn  remnant  of  the  company  who 
spent  the  first  winter  at  Hartford,  and  of  their  extremities 
of  need  and  discouragement  in  that  most  disconsolate  season 
and  condition,  for  the  picture  of  your  dark  dream  takes  on 
a  better  and  a  more  cheerful  perspective,  does  it  not  ?  even 
with  the  homely  and  rigid  profile,  if  you  please,  of  that  little 
house  of  hope  drawn  out  upon  the  expanse  of  the  snow-can- 
vased  forest ! 

Then  again,  a  page  further  on  in  the  story,  when  the  sum- 
mer had  opened  and  carpeted  and  shaded  the  highways  for 
them,  and,  their  journey  accomplished,  the  tired  and  strag- 
gling caravan  from  Massachusetts  approached  at  last  by  the 
meadow  side,  and  yonder  on  the  farthest  knoll  were  met  by 
those  few  of  their  former  number  v/ho  had  preceded  them 
in  the  early  spring,  or  had  waited  for  them  through  the  long 
suspense  and  famine  of  that  winter,  and  by  them,  with  shouts 
and  tears  of  gladdest  thanksgiving,  were  guided  and  hurried 
to  the  opening  this  way  to  show  them  where  now  then- 
dwelling  was  to  be,  you  may,  I  think,  fairly  enough  believe 
that  as  their  curious  vision  sped  eagerly  to  and  fro  over  the 
near  landscape  of  this  Canaan  they  had  reached,  they  would 
recall  it  with  a  real  and  reverent  satisfaction  to  rest  where 
their  lowly  new  sanctuary — reared  in  the  midst  of  the  few 
habitations  already  projected,  venerated,  I  dare  say,  as  a  pil- 
lar of  consecration — greeted  and  invited  them  as  "  the  shadow 
of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 

This  edifice,  if  even  more  primitive  than  the  former  one  at 
Newtown,  was  devoted  to  religious  and  other  public  uses  for 
most  of  the  time  until  1640-1,  though  some  historical  refer- 
ences to  it  have  been  somewhat  indefinite  and  sometimes  con- 
fusing. In  "  Genealogical  Notes,"  by  the  late  Nathaniel 
Goodwin  of  this  city,  is  reproduced  from  the  town  records  of 
Stratford,  Conn.,  a  statement  of  the  Rev.  John  Higginson, 
to  the  effect  that  "in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1638,  in  the 
last  week  in  March,"   Mr.  Hopkins  and  Mr.  Goodwin,  being 


142 

employed  to  treat  with  Indians  in  the  southwestern  portion 
of  the  State,  he,  Mr.  Higginson,  was  sent  with  them  as  an 
interpreter,  and  v/ith  them  and  two  Indians  selected  for  the 
purpose,  came  to  Hartford  in  pursuance  of  matters  connected 
with  their  negotiations,  "  and  not  long  after  there  was  a  com- 
mittee in  Mr.  Hooker's  barn,  the  meeting-house  then  not 
buylded."  This  statement  was  recoi'ded  many  years  after 
the  visit  spoken  of,  and  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  apparent 
fact  that  this  first  meeting-house,  which  in  time  came  to  be 
Mr.  Hooker's  barn,  and  as  such  was  popularly  known  and 
remembered,  still  served  its  former  uses  while  the  new 
second  one  was  in  progress,  if  in  progress  at  this  date;  the 
latter  perhaps  not  quite  apparent,  certainly  not  in  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson's  memory  at  the  time  of  this  relation.  It  does  not 
seem  to  disturb  the  identity  of  the  structure  to  which  I  have 
referred  as  the  first  house  of  worship  in  Hartford  any  more 
than  does  the  following  reference  in  the  records  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  showing  its  use  in  part  for  storage  by  the  com- 
monwealth during  and  after  the  Pequot  war,  and  dated 
April  5,  1638  ;  "  It  is  thought  meete  that  the  Costlets  that  were 
in  the  last  service  shall  be  made  good  to  the  Commonwealth 
and  made  as  good  serviceable  as  before,  and  that  Richard 
Lord  shall  take  such  Costlets  into  his  custody  as  are  in  the 
meeting-house  of  Harteford  and  make  them  vpp." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1639  ^^'^  suppose  we  hear 
reliably  from  the  bell  which  w^as  missed  at  Cambridge — as 
has  been  noted — in  1636.  The  Colonial  Records*  preserve 
a  judgment  of  the  General  Court  rendered  at  that  time, 
condemning  two  culprits  "to  be  whipt  att  a  Carts  [tail]  upon 
a  lecture  day  in  Hartford  ...  to  stand  vppon  the  pillory  from 
the  ringing  of  the  first  bell  to  the  end  of  the  lecture  then  to 
be  whipt."  It  is  natural  to  infer  that  the  bell  was  upon  the 
meeting-house  then  in  use,  and  what  had  been  much  called 
the  first  one,  as  in  both  the  consecration  sermon  of  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Wadsworth  in  1739  and  in  that  of  Dr.  Strong  in  1807 
was  not  yet,  for  two  years  at  least,  finished,  if  actually  begun. 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  28. 


143 

If  commenced  (and  Mr.  Wads  worth  says  built)  In  1638,  it 
progressed  by  such  stages  as  the  circumstances  of  the  not 
then  wealthy  or  populous  church  and  town  allowed.  It  was 
larger  and  was  quite  dititerent  in  model  from  the  one  it  was  to 
replace  ;  was  a  frame  structure  *  and  in  various  details  appro- 
priated with  seemly  order,  furnished  for  its  day  quite  an 
advanced  type  of  colonial  church  building.  The  day  for  the 
clay-filled  log  walls  was  passed,  and  the  name  of  goodman 
Post  stands  by  the  records  bounden  to  the  townsmen  of  1640 
to  furnish  veritable  clapboards  and  to  cover  it  at  5^.  6d.  the 
hundred,  and  the  roof,  although  no  mention  of  the  fact 
appears,  was  doubtles.s  covered  with  clapboards  also,  if  not 
with  shingles.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  thatch  was 
used  upon  the  roof  of  the  former  building,  for  you  will 
remember  that  at  Newtown  they  discarded  it  by  agreement 
at  the  very  outset. 

With  studious  care  now  that  the  ornate  and  costly  style 
which  had  been  left  behind  in  the  old  country  should  not 
reappear  to  foster  ecclesiastical  pride,  the  architectural  lines 
were  allowed  to  vary  a  little  for  the  sake  of  shelter  at  the 
entrance  in  stormy  weather,  even  if  there  should  be  a  pleas- 
ant gain  in  effect  thereby,  and  the  goodman  Pantry,  the 
records  say,  was  to  be  negotiated  to  agreement  with  the 
townsmen  of  1641  as  to  the  construction  of  the  porch,  the 
necessary  workmen  therefor,  their  pay  also  "such  as  the 
country  affords." 

It  is  likely  that  as  soon  as  this  house  w^as  covered  so  as  to 
attord  reasonable  shelter,  and  was  tolerably  furnished  within, 
it  was  occupied,  occasionally  at  least,  for  religious  service. 
We  are  unable  to  say  just  when  it  was  at  first  so  occupied,  but 
before  the  i  ith  of  February,  1641-2,  it  was  so  far  completed  as 
to  be  relied  upon  entirely  for  the  future,  and  at  that  date,  it  was 
by  the  town  "ordered  that  the  old  meeting-house  shall  be 
given  to  Mr.  Hooker."  This  vote,  if  it  does  not  mark  the 
exact  time  of  the  occupancy  of  the  new  structure,  at  least 

*  One  order  of  later  date  provides  for  "new  ground  sills." 


144 

settles  the  question  as  to  the  numerical  relation  of  the  two. 
This,  the  third  edifice  of  our  church,  the  second  at  Hartford, 
was  located  very  near  to  the  present  site  of  our  post-office,  to 
the  southeast  of  it  a  little,  and  between  it  and  the  location  of 
its  predecessor  probably.  It  had  been  prepared  at  great 
charges,  we  may  fairly  say,  if  we  have  due  regard  and  esti- 
mate of  the  numbers  and  wealth  of  the  colony,  and  from  the 
few  details  that  are  hinted,  we  must  conceive  the  outlay  for 
its  construction  to  have  been  comparatively  liberal,  and  as 
had  been  the  recorded  habit  of  this  people  in  their  former 
operations,  fully  up  to  the  times,  to  say  the  least.  It  had 
been  brought  so  far  towards  completion  in  the  face  of  diffi- 
culties which  we  can  never  fully  understand,  and  was  pat- 
terned too,  upon  ideas  somewhat  refined,  from  those  which 
dominated  in  the  architectural  designs  of  the  first  years  of 
the  colonies. 

Circumstances  had  before  limited  the  outlay  to  such  a 
structure  as  should  afford  only  the  plainest  accommodation 
to  their  simple  worship,  and  the  present  limitations  indeed 
enlarged  upon  this  idea,  to  be  appreciated  only  by  rather 
minute  comparisons.  The  covering  of  the  exterior  indeed, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  more  comely ;  a  decent  flooring  within  ; 
widows  not  of  very  ample  capacity,  but  more  numerous  and 
with  glass ;  doors  that  gave  more  comfortable  and  secure 
enclosure,  and  seats  that  had  perhaps  a  little  more  finish  if 
not  any  more  ease  about  them. 

But,  as  it  proved,  it  was  erected  for  a  century,  and  many 
improved  and  changed  and  added  appointments  within  and 
without  must  await  the  progress  of  the  century,  and  the 
advancing  taste  and  determination  of  its  new  generations. 
For  the  present  it  was  supposed  to  be  ready.  The  well 
traveled  old  bell  now  securely  and  more  permanently  hung, 
this  time  again  in  a  turret  *  upon  the  apex  of  the  roof,  to  be 


*  This  turret  was  remodeled  at  a  later  date.  William  Davenport  relaid  the 
floor  of  it  in  1704,  and  renders  an  account  of  expenditures  therefor,  and  "for 
calking  and  pitching"  it,  and  "for  setting  up  the  speere  &  vain  and  other 
work  to  it." 


145 

rung  from  the  middle  of  the  interior  below — would  invite  the 
waiting  congregation  to  the  new  sanctuary. 

And  to  the  new  sanctuary  the  waiting  congregation  would 
come,  but  how  should  this  free  and  pious  people  range  them- 
selves there  with  proper  respect  to  each  other,  for  their  stated 
worship  before  Him  v.'ho  is  no  respecter  of  persons  ?  Places 
were  by  common  consent  and  deference  fixed  for  the 
Governor  or  the  magistrates  and  various  civil  dignitaries, 
while  those  for  the  elders  and  those  next  exalted  for  the 
deacons,  to  which,  with  all  due  solemnity  the  weekly  offerings 
of  the  congregation  were  brought  and  deposited,  *  were  of 
uniform  appointment ;  but  can  we  conceive  of  the  perplexity 
and  disappointment  that  sometimes  followed  the  endeavors 
by  authority  to  place  everybody  else  appropriately  ?  By  a 
vote  of  the  town  meeting,  assembled  13th  March,  1641,  John 
White,  John  Pratt,  Rich'd  Goodman,  and  Joseph  Mygatt, 
who  were  townsmen  (selectmen)  for  the  time  being,  were 
ordered  and  empowered  "  to  appoint  seats  in  the  meeting- 
house for  religious  service,"  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  these 
good  men  had  the  grace  and  address  to  do  their  delicate  work 
well.  It  was,  however,  a  requirement  upon  public  servants 
of  other  years  and  localities  and  congregations  that  brought 
varied  dissatisfaction  and  resentments,  and  sometimes  rebel- 
lion, as  is  witnessed  in  more  than  one  New  England  town  by 
recorded  votes  of  similar  import  to  this  at  Stratham,  N.  H. ; 

*The  contribution  box,  in  the  earliest  times,  had  a  different  place  and  service 
from  the  present  order — which  was  retaineii  until  past  the  middle  of  the  iSth 
century  in  most  of  the  N.  E.  churches,  and  commonly  at  the  close  of  the 
service  every  Sabbath  afternoon,  "  One  of  the  deacons  saying :  '  Brethren  of 
the  conj^regation,  now  there  is  time  left  for  contribution,  wherefore  as  God  hath 
prospered  you  so  freely  offer.'  Upon  some  extraordinary  occasions,  as  build- 
ing or  repairing  of  meeting-houses,  or  other  necessitie,  the  Ministers  presse  a 
liberall  contribution  with  effectual!  exhortations  out  of  Scripture. 
The  Magistrates  and  Clergymen  first  and  then  the  elders,  and  all  come  up  one 
after  another  one  way  and  bring  their  offering  to  the  Deacon  in  his  seat  and 
put  it  into  a  box  of  wood  for  the  purpose  if  it  bee  money  or  papers;  if  it  be 
any  other  chattle  they  set  it  or  lay  it  downe  before  the  Deacon  and  so  passe 
another  way  to  their  seats  again.  Hut  in  Salem  Church  those  only  that  are  of 
the  church  offer  in  publ'c  ;  the  rest  are  required  to  give  to  the  Ministerie  by 
collection  at  their  houses.  " — Thos.  Letchford,  1641.  Mass.  Hist  Coll.,  23,  77,  8. 
19 


146 

that  "  Every  person  that  is  seated  shall  Set  in  those  Seates 
or  pay  five  shillings  Pir  day  for  every  day  they  set  out  of 
those  seats  in  a  disorderly  manner  to  advaince  themselves 
higher  in  the  meeting-house."  It  is  not  improbable,  from 
what  appears  further  on,  that  at  some  times  there  were 
symptoms  of  the  usual  discontent  here,  but  probably  our 
forefathers  and  their  consorts  and  families  were  saved,  for  the 
present  at  least,  from  these  unhappy  questionings  by  the 
presence  of  more  serious  exercises  of  mind. 

The  consideration  of  personal  safety  invaded  the  house  of 
God.  It  sometimes  appears  to  have  been  put  aside,  however, 
by  the  congregation,  notwithstanding  the  admonitions  and 
mandates  of  their  guardians.  It  was  ordered  by  the  court 
in  1642  "that  there  shall  be  a  gard  of  forty  men  to  com 
compleate  in  their  arms  to  the  meeting  eury  sabbath  and 
lecture  day  in  every  town,"*  and  in  Oct.,  1643,  "  to  p^uent  or 
w^hstand  such  sudden  assaults  as  may  be  made  by  Indeans 
vppon  the  Sabboth  or  lecture  days,  It  is  Ordered  that  one  p'  son 
in  euery  seuerall  howse  wherein  is  any  souldear  or  souldears 
shall  bring  a  muskett,  pystoll,  or  some  peece  w'''  powder  and 
shott  to  ech  meeting;"  and  the  next  month  for  neglect  of  the 
latter  a  penalty  of  twelve  pence  was  provided,  one-half  to 
the  informer  and  one  half  "to  the  country."* 

We  nowhere  find  any  figures  that  certainly  indicate  the 
original  dimensions  of  the  building.  They  would  not  vary 
materially  from  the  apparent  rule  among  contemporary 
structures,  and  the  largest  of  its  class  and  time  ranged  from 
40  by  40  feet,  to  40  by  50  feet  upon  tlie  ground.  Dr.  Dexter 
gives  the  latter  figure  as  the  average  among  forty  edifices 
erected  between  the  years  1653  and  i8i2,t  while  one  built 
at  Medford,  Mass  ,  as  late  as  1695-6,  was  but  30  by  27  feet. 

It  was  not  long  before  enlarged  capacity  was  sought,  and 
numerous  recorded  orders  of  the  town  from  time  to  time 
mark  some  of  the  successive  additions  and  improvements. 
Feb.  3,  1644,  "a  gallery  with  stairs,  to  be  built  with  con- 
venient speed;  "  Feb.  11,  1660-1,  another  gallery  designated 
for  the  east  side;    and  Feb.   17,    1664-5,  another  still  war 

*  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  vol.  i,  pp.  73,  95,  96.       t  Cong.  Quarterly,  vol.  i,  p.  186. 


147 

voted,  and  although  specifications  are  wanting,  they  do  not 
appear  to  be  duplicates,  and  without  doubt  occupied  three 
sides  of  the  interior,  leaving  the  west  for  the  pulpit,  a  quite 
unpretentious  piece  of  furniture  at  first,  and  so  far  as  we 
know  rather  barren  of  superficial  adornments  for  many  years. 

In  your  ancient  book  of  records  an  account  is  to  be  found 
which  records  an  expenditure  of  £,2  \^s.  6d.  sterling,  "for  a 
Plush  Cushin,  a  greene  Cloth,  and  Silke  for  the  fringes  and 
Tasseles  of  s'^  Cushion."  A  porch  "  with  stairs  up  into  the 
chamber  "  (afterward  more  often  called  the  Court  Chamber) 
had  been  ordered  February  8,  1650,  supposably  to  be  placed 
at  the  opposite  end  of  the  house  from  that  which  was  ordered 
ten  years  before,  and  it  would  seem  that  this  chamber,  thus 
to  be  made  more  conveniently  accessible,  might  have  adjoined 
the  gallery  of  1664-5,  which  gallery  was  "for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  room  in  said  meeting-house."  Nearest  about 
the  north  door  were  the  seats  provided  "for  the  guard"  which, 
after  a  time,  were  ordered  to  be  raised  above  those  about 
them — and  appropriately  too  ;  for  if  the  stalwart  guard,  as 
time  went  on  were  less  in  danger  of  surprise  from  the  roving 
savages,  their  peace  was  harrowed  and  their  tact  and  vigilance 
kept  at  a  lively  tension  by  an  ever  present  and  m.ischievous 
few  who  won  frequent  notice  and  care  from  them  and  from 
the  law  makers  of  the  town  when  assembled. 

The  sentinel  of  the  guard  was  empowered  by  the  freemen's 
meeting  (1659)  "  to  command  boys  and  men  into  the  meeting- 
house that  stand  without  the  doors  in  time  of  exercise  ;  and 
if  they  refuse  to  come  in  at  their  command  they  shall  then 
forthwith  acquaint  the  sergeant  of  the  guard  thereof  or  the 
constable  who  shall  command  them."  The  successors  of 
these  refractory  boys  came  to  partly  occupy  the  seats  of  their 
monitors,  and  their  watch  and  care  was  ordered  by  votes  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  Society  belonging  to  the  First  church  in 
Hartford  ;  this  society  being  recognized  after  the  colonization 
of  the  Second  or  South  church  Feb.  12,  1669.  * 

*  This  church  was  popularly  called  the  North  Church  as  well  as  the  First 
Church,  from  this  date  until  the  organization  of  the  North  Church  proper, 
Sept.  23,  1824.     Subsequently  the  Center  Church. 


148 

By  a  vote  of  the  society  Dec.  23,  1697,  "Mr.  Thomas 
Butler  was  appointed  to  loo!-:  after  the  boys  that  are  to  sett 
in  the  meeting-house  from  the  north  door  to  the  pulpit  in 
the  first  meeting-house  that  they  do  not  play  upon  the 
Sabath  or  in  time  of  public  worship :  And  they  made  choice 
of  George  Northway  to  look  after  the  boys  in  the  south  side 
the  gallery  for  the  sayd  end  and  purpose,  and  all  parents  and 
masters  of  famelys  are  desired  to  order  their  children  to  sitt 
in  those  places  that  they  may  be  looked  after  and  kept  in 
good  order,  that  they  may  not  prophane  the  Sabath  by  their 
disorder  in  the  time  of  public  worship."  Another  ordinance 
directs  "not  to  suffer  the  boys  to  sit  only  in  the  south  side 
gallery,"  and  one  in  1716  "that  all  the  boys  under  16  years 
old  shall  sit  below,  some  in  the  guard  seats  and  some  in  the 
alley "  (upon  stools  attached  to  the  end  of  the  seats),  and 
Mess.  Samuel  Shepard  and  Thos.  Day  were  appointed  to  sit 
in  the  guard  to  take  care  of  the  boys  there — and  in  1725 
(the  first  that  the  direction  is  to  be  noted)  their  misdemeanors 
are  by  the  chosen  observers  to  be  communicated  to  the 
Tythingmen  for  presentment  ;  and  this  for  the  while  is  the 
final  legislation  specially  dedicated  to  the  boys.  These  care- 
ful provisions  for  discipline  frequently  re-enacted  however, 
during  the  century,  were  I  suppose  diligently  enforced  "  for 
the  sayd  end  and  purpose"  and  without  distinction  of  family. 
Perhaps  the  somewhat  aggressive  and  severe  application  of 
them  helped  forward  the  advent  of  pews.  The  gathering  of 
the  young  and  old  of  households  together  in  the  place  of 
worship,  while  incidentally  making  place  for  a  fashion  whose 
good  riddance  was  so  long  delayed,  inaugurated  a  better 
order  for  all  the  future.  In  1704  "the  committee  of  the 
society  granted  liberty  to  Mr.  Samuel  Gilbert  to  make  a  pue 
for  himself  and  his  family  in  the  said  meeting-house  next  the 
gallery  stayers  adjoining  to  the  great  alley  in  the  said  meet- 
ing-house the  breadth  of  the  two  lower  seats  so  far  as  the 
west  side  the  small  pillar  that  stands  up  to  the  gallery  ;  a 
square  pue — and  not  liberty  to  dispose  of  it  to  any  other  by 
said  Gilbert  or  any  of  his." 


149 

In  the  same  year,  Mr.  Wm.  Davenport  is  credited  "for 
making  a  pew  next  to  Samuel  Gilbert's."  These  two  were 
perhaps  the  first  family  pews  in  Hartford  (the  species 
survived  till  185 1,)  but  an  account  with  Mr.  Davenport  in 
1702  notes  the  making  of  "a  pew  at  the  south  end  of  the 
pulpit  for  some  women  to  sit  in  next  the  women's  pew,"  and 
another  with  Obidiah  Spencer  in  1697,  credits  him  with 
"  bannisters  for  the  women's  pews." 

There  was  in  the  house  no  appliance  for  artificial  heat  during 
all  the  ninety-nine  years  that  it  stood.  We  cannot  be  sure 
that  the  provisions  for  individual  relief  from  cold,  such  as  the 
heated  brick,  or  the  foot-Stove,  which  were  used  in  later  years, 
were  thought  of  or  admissible  then.  Our  ancestors  brought 
patience  to  her  perfect  work  almost,  when  on  the  wintry 
Sabbath  they  could  wait  so  many  revolutions  of  the  hour- 
glass as  a  single  service  witnessed  sometimes.  If  we  are  to 
believe  contemporary  evidence,  it  was  the  practice  to  watch 
the  time ;  a  stand  for  the  hour-glass  being  provided  between 
the  minister's  desk  and  the  elder's  seat,  convenient  to  the 
reach  of  either,  and  to  the  observation  of  all.  An  old  and 
not  very  elegant  cartoon  of  the  time  is  mentioned  in  one  of 
the  local  histories,  which  represents  the  Rev.  Hugh  Peters 
in  his  pulpit  with  a  yawning  congregation  before  him,  he  in 
the  act  of  turning  his  time-keeper  again,  while  with  a  coaxing 
smile,  he  says  to  them,  "  I  know  you  are  good  fellows,  stay  and 
take  another  glass." 

As  we  try  to  make  up  in  our  minds  the  interior  of  this 
notable  building,  we  should  not  overlook  the  possible  modi- 
fications which  the  memory  of  its  varied  use  would  suggest. 

The  church  was  as  well  the  court-house,  the  town  hall, 
and  the  capitol.  Ecclesiastical  and  civil  procedures  were 
alike  and  together  illustrated  under  this  venerable  roof. 
The  faithful  and  reverential  sexton,  who  from  the  center  of 
the  "  great  alley,"  rang  together  the  Sabbath  and  lecture  day 
worshipers,  exercised  other  functions,  and  called  other  assem- 
blies there.  It  was  ordered  (town  meeting  1640)  "  that  if 
any  person  hath  lost  anything  that  he  desireth  should  be 


ISO 

cried  in  a  public  meeting,  he  shall  pay  for  crying  of  it  two 
pence  to  Thomas  Woodford,  to  be  paid  before  it  be  cried  ; 
and  the  crier  shall  have  a  book  of  the  things  that  he  crieth." 
So  the  old  sexton  and  crier — if  the  veracious  Rev.  Samuel 
Peters  is  to  be  believed,  who  would  have  it  that  the  first 
witch  of  all  in  America,  was  condemned  and  executed  here — 
called,  it  may  be,  the  court  which  tried  her  to  this  chamber. 
In  1 71 5,  after  so  many  years  of  wear  and  tear,  the  Deputy 
Governor  and  Council  directed  "  that  Joseph  Talcott,  Esq., 
take  care  and  set  workmen  to  mend  and  repair  the  court 
chamber  in  the  first  meeting-house  at  Hartford,  so  as  may  be 
safe  for  the  court  to  be  held  in  the  same,  at  the  colony's 
charge."  This  identity  of  this  room  was  also  verified  by 
transactions  of  the  Court  of  Assistants  in  1708,  disciplinary  of 
Captain  Joseph  Wadsvvorth,  for  unseemly  language  spoken 
to  the  High  Sheriff,  the  interview  being  "in  the  gallery  of 
the  meeting-house,  under  the  court  chamber,  where  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  were  sitting."* 

So  then,  here  at  their  appointed  times  assemblies  for  wor- 
ship, ecclesiastical  councils,  and  other  religious  convocations; 
the  courts  usually,!  the  public  meetings  of  the  town ;  the 
council  session  of  his  Excellency  the  Governor;  the  assem- 
blies of  the  General  Court ;  conventions  with  deputies  or 
commissioners  from  other  colonies  or  foreign  states  were 
held.  This  was  the  theater  of  the  excited  debates  before  Sir 
Edmond  Andross  terminating  with  the  rescue  of  the  historic 
charter,  while  many  another  conference  was  gathered  one  day 
or  another  long  since  forgotten,  whose  story  the  eager  hand  of 
history  never  culled  or  else  failed  to  save. 

To  all  these  varying  congregations  whose  constituency  sur- 


*  Hoadly,  Col.  Rec,  v.  493. 

t  The  Jeremy  Adams  Tavern  is  authoritatively  mentioned  as  a  place  of  meet- 
ing of  the  courts,  etc.  "  In  this  ordinary  were  held  the  Courts  of  Assistants  (and 
probably  the  General  Courts)  as  early  at  least  as  September,  1661,  when  a 
deposition  alludes  to  the  Court  Chamber  in  the  house  of  Jeremiah  Adams." 
The  Committee  of  the  General  Court  on  Indian  Affairs,  in  1678  held  their  meet- 
ings in  the  same  place,  and  it  is  often  named  as  the  place  of  appearance,  in 
summons  issued  by  the  Governor  and  Council  and  Courts  of  Assistants." — 
J.  H.  Trumbull,  Col.  Rec,  vol.  3,  145. 


i5t 

vived  them  but  a  few  years  the  Brain  tree  Company's  old  cen- 
tury bell  rung  out  timely  summons  so  long  as  voice  remained. 
]t  failed  at  last.  In  1726  Mr.  John  Edwards  was  directed  "  at 
the  charge  of  the  society  to  purchase  some  suitable  red  bunt- 
ing for  a  flag  to  be  set  up  on  the  State  House  to  direct  for 
meeting  upon  the  public  worship  of  God  ;"  and  in  May  follow- 
ing, at  a  meeting  of  the  North  and  South  Societies  of  Hart- 
ford, a  rate  of  eighty  pounds  for  repairing  or  recasting  the  bell 
was  ordered  to  be  levied,  and  the  iinal  adjustment  of  account 
with  Thomas  Russell,  in  1729,  shows  the  cost  between  the  old 
and  new  bell  to  have  been  ;^85  ;  of  which  the  first  society 
paid  ;!^47  5^".,  9^/.,  arid  the  second  society  paid  J^'^'j  \/^s.,  3^. 

At  about  the  same  time  that  provision  had  to  be  made  for 
the  new  bell,  discussion  of  the  necessity  for  a  new  house  of 
worship  began,  and  a  meeting  to  consider  it  on  the  2d  of  Jan- 
uary, 1726,  developed  a  quite  unanimous  sentiment  that  one 
should  be  built  immediately  "if  a  place  most  accommodable 
could  be  agreed  upon  for  setting  the  same."  A  warm  desire 
too,  for  reunion  with  "  the  new  society  "  (now  aged  fifty-seven 
years),  to  be  gathered  within  the  projected  structure  was 
manifested,  and  His  Honor  the  Governor  and  three  others 
were  chosen  a  committee  to  urge  the  matter  and  see  if  "our 
friends  were  of  one  mind,  and  would  join  to  build  a  house  for 
the  public  worship  of  God  and  unite  into  one  society."  At  the 
end  of  the  fortnight's  conference  the  "  the  one  mind"  did  not 
appear  to  prevail,  and  the  new  society  did  not  "  join."  Indeed 
there  seemed  already  many  minds  in  our  own  communion 
about  what  was  '•  the  most  accommodable  place  for  setting 
up  a  meeting-house  next  the  great  street  of  Hartford,"  which 
place  was  now  to  be  sought  after  by  an  impartial  committee 
which  was  selected  by  vote  of  the  society  :  Captain  Samuel 
Mather  of  Windsor,  Mr.  Edward  Bulkeley  of  Wethersfield, 
and  Deacon  John  Hart  of  Farmington.  Mr.  Ebenezer  Wil- 
liamson was  substituted  for  Mr.  Hart,  and,  I  presume,  not 
with  any  expectation  of  interfering  with  the  unanimity  or 
promptness  of  their  settlement  of  the  business,  another  com- 
mittee,  consisting  of  tlie   Governor  and  three  others  were 


appointed  "  to  treat  with  tlie  above  committee  and  lay  (before 
them)  the  matters  of  difficulty  concerning  the  fixing  the 
place  of  setting  up  the  said  meeting-house."  How  far  the 
offices  of  the  outside  committee  helped  to  settle  the  choice 
of  the  people  for  the  time  being  is  uncertain.  These  three 
men  were  compensated  for  the  expenditure  of  time  in  the 
endeavor  by  the  payment  of  £,i  \s.  ■^d.,  and  whether  it  was 
money  well  spent  or  not,  or  however  interested  and  close  the 
canvass  of  this  matter  for  the  next  five  years,  nothing  about 
it  came  to  record  until  December  i6,  1730,  when  a  committee 
were  instructed  to  make  formal  request  of  the  town  for  per- 
mission to  build  upon  this  ground  which  has  now  for  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  years  been  occupied  by  this  Society. 

The  town  responded  favorably,  but  the  Society  failed  now 
to  unite  in  measures  to  secure  the  privilege  they  had  asked 
for,  and  an  influential  number  of  its  members  were  inclined 
to  build  upon  the  other  side  of  the  "  great  street,"  where  by 
and  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wilson  promised  "  to  give  to  God  and 
the  First  Church  and  Society  so  much  of  a  lot  as  would  be 
needful  and  convenient  "  for  the  purpose.  This  lot  was 
between  the  present  locations  of  the  Wadsworth  Athenaeum 
and  St.  John's  Church,  and  the  various  preferences  for  this 
and  for  the  location  upon  the  burying  lot  were  debated 
warmly  and  greatly  at  length.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
voting  members  required  by  act  of  the  Assembly  were  by 
the  2d  of  May,  1732,  persuaded  to  accept  this  gift  and  to 
build  thereupon,  but  the  call  and  settlement  of  Mr.  Wads- 
worth  occupied  the  minds  and  time  of  the  parish,  so  that  no 
progress  was  made  for  about  a  year.  June  25,  1733,  Mrs. 
Wilson  having  deceased,  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Abigail  Wood- 
bridge,  widow  of  their  late  beloved  pastor,  "  truly  sensible  of 
that  desire  and  good  intent  of  her  honored  mother,  and  also 
considering  it  a  duty  to  honor  God  with  her  substance,"  con- 
veyed the  lot  in  question  to  the  society — seventy-nine  feet 
front  by  ninety-eight  feet  in  depth.  It  had  been  decided  by 
vote  of  June  20,  1733,  that  the  proposed  building  should  be 
seventy  feet  in   length   by  forty-six  feet  in  width,  and  on 


153 

Christmas  Day  the  following  year  that  it  should  be  of  brick ; 
and  after  this  long  interval  of  time  a  building  committee  was 
appointed  also,  and  a  rate  granted  for  the  purpose  of  provid- 
ing materials. 

But,  although  all  this  had  been  sanctioned  by  the  General 
Assembly  and  by  legal  procedure  on  the  part  of  the  Society, 
the  work  did  not  proceed,  and  in  March,  1735,  a  majority 
were  again  in  doubt  this  time  whether  after  all  it  ought  to 
proceed,  inasmuch  as  "  about  fifty  of  the  number  refused  to 
pay  anything  toward  the  cost  if  it  were  to  be  placed  on  the 
Woodbridge  lot.  The  sympathy  and  advice  of  the  General 
Assembly  were  sought  through  a  committee,  and  the  appro- 
priate agents  were  appointed  to  secure  now  the  part  of  the 
burying  lot  which  had  virtually  been  granted  by  the  town  in 
1 732,  and  upon  this  action  by  a  majority  of  the  Society  against 
the  recorded  protest  of  a  numerous  minority,  the  business 
was,  for  the  time  being,  at  a  halt,  and  the  minds  of  a  goodly 
number  of  Christian  people  greatly  vexed,  and  another  half 
year  of  labor  under  difficulties  was  added  to  the  history  of 
this  prolonged  canvass,  when  the  meeting  of  the  4th  and  i  ith 
of  October  following  did,  almost  unanimously,  "  for  peace' 
sake  vote,  agree,  and  sign"  to  accept  an  exchange  of  lots 
with  Mrs.  Woodbridge,  and  to  build  upon  what  was  called 
"  the  barn  lot."  if  the  Assembly  would  so  approve  and  order. 

However,  the  committee  appointed  January  10,  1736-7, 
failed  to  satisfy  the  good  lady  as  to  the  removal  of  her  barn 
from  the  lot  last  proposed,  and  on  the  17th  negotiations 
with  her  were  again  declared  off,  and  were  at  once  reopened 
with  the  town  authorities  for  fixing  the  situation  upon  the 
oft  besought  and  oft  bestowed  southeast  corner  of  the  bury- 
ing lot ;  and  also  to  treat  with  Capt.  Nath'l  Hooker  for  a 
small  part  of  his  home  lot  adjoining.  At  the  same  time  the 
dimensions  of  the  new  house  were  reconsidered  as  well  as 
the  materials,  and  it  was  now  ordered  that  it  should  be  sixty 
feet  in  length  instead  of  seventy,  and  that  it  should  be  of 
wood  instead  of  brick.  In  two  weeks  this  little  matter  was 
taken   again   in   hand    and    sixty-six    feet   by   forty-six   feet 


154 

unalterably  fixed,  "notwitlistanding  any  former  vote  to  the 
contrary,"  and,  moreover,  that  there  should  be  two  tiers  of 
galleries ;  but  April  26th  next,  this  latter  was  reconsidered 
and  one  tier  of  galleries  only  decided  upon.  The  Assembly's 
sanction  to  this  locality  was  again  asked  and  obtained  at  the 
May  Session,  1736-7. 

This  land  now  being  definitely  occupied,  proper  reconvey- 
ance was  made  of  that  which  Mrs.  Woodbridge  had  given, 
and  a  vote  passed  signifying  the  Society's  grateful  sense  of 
the  generous  regard  she  had  shown  in  time  past,  with  the 
hope  that  she  would  "  not  remember  whatsoever  hath  been 
grevious  to  her  in  the  affair  aforesaid,"  and  ''  that  her  return 
to  this  Society  is  what  we  greatly  desire  and  should  greatly 
rejoice  in,"  an  address  which  subsequent  events  showed  to 
have  been  well-timed  and  effective. 

The  new  bell  having  been  produced  at  the  joint  charge  of 
the  two  ecclesiastical  societies,  the  minds  of  both  were  to 
determine  where  it  should  hang ;  and  it  seems  that  it  had 
been  agreed  that  it  should  remain  on  the  old  house  until  the 
major  part  of  both  societies  should  decide  upon  another 
place.  With  the  somewhat  numerous  variations  in  choice  as 
to  locality  for  the  meeting-house,  our  people  had  evidently 
left  far  behind  the  original  question  of  reunion,  but  their 
brethren  of  the  new  society  were  memorialized  that  they 
should  contribute  now  toward  the  preparation  of  a  steeple  to 
the  new  church  in  which  the  bell  should  be  hung ;  with 
what  result  as  to  contribution,  I  cannot  say;  but  July  14th 
the  First  Society  ordered  their  committee  "  to  build  a  con- 
venient steeple  to  the  meetinghouse  to  hang  a  bell  in."  On 
the  first  of  August,  1737,  the  pulpit  and  seats  of  the  old 
house  were  ordered  to  be  removed  to  the  State  House  "for 
the  convenience  of  the  minister  and  the  society  meeting 
there  for  the  worship  of  God."  The  old  house,  which  was 
ninet3'-nine  years  old,  was  soon  dismantled,  and  within  the 
following  week  brought  to  the  ground.  Some  of  its  materi- 
als were  appropriated  for  the  new  building,  and,  although 
impossible  now  to  identify  them,   some  of  the  old  timbers 


155 
* 

are  said  to  have  been  preserved  and  used  again  in  the  con- 
struction of  this  present  edifice. 

The  work  of  construction  went  on  prosperously  now,  and 
many  particulars  have  been  given  already  in  interesting 
papers  published  by  Mr.  Hoadly  in  1868-9,  by  whose  cour- 
tesy we  have  the  opportunity  to  see  the  accounts  of  Dea. 
John  Edwards  which  relate  to  this  affair.  These  details 
were  preserved  with  conscientious  accuracy  by  this  devoted 
officer  of  the  church  and  society — an  uncle  of  the  famous 
and  reverend  Jonathan  Edwards— every  item,  expenditure,  or 
receipt,  from  the  allowance  made  to  the  owner  of  a  servant 
for  his  labor  to  the  sale  of  ten  nails  from  the  old  building  for 
fourpence  ha'penny.* 

Some  of  the  incidentals  may  serve  to  remind  you  that  the 
Christian  conscience  of  the  time  had  not  yet  been  quickened 
by  the  spirit  of  the  Washingtonian  reformation. 

The  frame  of  the  house  was  raised  by  the  22d  September, 
1737,  and,  being  covered  before  the  advent  of  winter,  the 
work  rested  to  be  resumed  the  following  season,  and  pushed 
to  completion  and  dedication  the  30th  December,  1739.  It 
stood  upon  the  ground  at  the  front  of  that  occupied  by  this 
present  edifice,  the  side  to  the  street ;  the  main  building  a 
fraction  over  sixty-six  feet  in  length  by  forty-six  feet  in 
width,  its  southeastern  corner  being  about  seven  feet  north 
from  the  building  standing  then,  as  now,  the  next  on  that 
side,  the  tower  extending  at  the  north  and  fourteen  feet 
further  along  or  near  the  front  line.  The  roof  rested  at  an 
appropriate  height  above  two  rows  of  windows,  and  the 
tower  elevated  the  bell  turret  a  full  story  at  least  above  the 
ridge-pole — the  spire  still  rising  high  above  this  with  its 
lofty  pole  and  gilded  ball  and  weathercock.  The  edifice, 
with  its  bright  paint  surfaces,  must  have  been  a  sightly 
object  from   almost  every  approach   to    the   favored    town. 


.  *  Shells  were  brought  from  the  sea-coast  from  which  to  make  the  lime 
required  for  the  building.  July,  1739,  is  charged,  "  Tq  money  paid  Mr.  Bigelow 
for  his  negro  to  help  unload  shells."  Slave  labor  was  appropriated  in  various 
ways  in  course  of  the  work. 


156 

'.7 

doubtless  emulating  many  of  the  external  glories  of  the  Old 
South  of  Boston,  which,  since  its  erection  in  1730,  had  been 
considered  a  model  for  the  decade. 

That  spire  pole  must  have  been  no  inconsiderable  affair. 
Mr.  Eben  Sedgwick  was  paid  £,<^  \^s.  od.  for  getting  it,  and 
when  ready  for  its  place  two  gallons  of  cider,  a  half  pound 
of  sugar,  and  two  quarts  and  a  pint  of  rum  were  required 
"to  treat  the  hands  when  histed  up  the  Spire  Pole  into  ye 
Tower."  This  even  was  only  less  than  half  way.  Eighteen 
quarts  of  rum  and  more  sugar  it  took  for  the  same  purpose 
"  when  Rayzed  the  Spire  "  from  the  summit  of  which  this 
mast  bearing  the  showy  vane  was  finally  elevated.  Numer- 
ous further  outlays  for  refreshment  are  recorded  by  the 
faithful  overseer  and  accountant.  About  ten  pounds  were 
expended  for  the  raising  proper,  and  at  the  occurrence  of 
other  more  or  less  arduous  parts  of  the  work  such  as  "load- 
ing stone  in  the  water,"  all  noted  apparently  wiih  the  freedom 
of  an  untrammeled  conscience,  the  good  man  perhaps 
rejoicing  all  the  while  that  the  quality  of  the  cordials  had 
not  deteriorated  as  much  as  had  the  current  money  with 
which  he  must  pay  his  laborers.  Within  the  house,  at  the 
head  of  the  "  Great  Alley,"  which,  not  obstructed  now  as  in 
the  former  one  by  the  bell-ringer  and  his  rope,  extended 
from  the  front  door  westward,  the  pulpit  arose  to  an  altitude 
easily  commanding  every  foot  of  the  surrounding  galleries, 
furnished  with  an  imposing  canopy  or  sounding  board,  and 
the  handsome  window  hangings  behind.  Beside  the  cush- 
ioned desk  was  placed  a  new  hour  glass,  its  case  of  a  model 
and  finish  more  pretentious  than  its  predecessors.  Mr.  Seth 
Young  thought  the  society  could  well  aftbrd  to  pay  ^6  for 
it,  but  the  bill  was  settled  for  £,^  los.  \d.  Another  aisle 
probably  crossed  the  house  from  the  north  or  tower  entrance 
to  that  at  the  south  end.  Plain  seats  or  slips  occupied  most 
of  the  middle  of  the  audience  room  at  first,  some  pews 
being  placed  probably  at  either  side  of  the  pulpit,  and  per- 
haps extending  as  far  as  the  north  and  south  doors.  Mr. 
Gerard  Spencer  turned  something  over  nine  hundred  "  ban- 


157 

nisters"  for  the  tops  of  them.  In  1750  the  society  ordered 
four  more  to  be  built,  two  on  each  side  of  the  "Broad  Alley," 
and  others  from  time  to  time  were  placed  there  as  wanted, 
until  most  of  this  part  of  the  floor  was  occupied  by  them. 
The  windows  in  the  lower  part  of  the  house  at  least  appear 
to  have  been  fitted  and  hung  with  pulleys  procured  by  John 
Beauchamp  from  Boston.  Other  persons  at  sundry  times 
delivered  considerable  quantities  of  iron  "  to  make  waits  for 
ye  windows,"  so  that  these  convenient  appliances  at  present 
to  be  found  in  our  houses  are  not  of  so  modern  invention  as 
some  of  us  had  supposed.  Cords  to  hang  the  sashes  were 
doubtless  made  here ;  various  purchases  of  hemp  and  flax 
"to  make  rope"  are  noted  upon  Mr.  Edwards'  book,  and  one 
large  rope  "with  block"  for  the  raising  was  bought  at 
Northampton.  There  was  no  provision  at  this  day  nor  for 
three-quarters  of  a  century  to  come  for  heating.  Nobody 
knew  the  necessity,  so  the  invention  delayed.  Dr.  Strong 
preached  a  Century  sermon  in  the  house  the  4th  January, 
1800,  and  a  note  prefacing  the  printed  copy  says  that  "the 
extreme  cold  of  the  day  caused  some  parts  of  it  to  be 
omitted  in  the  delivery."  This,  however,  was  when  the  house 
was  old  and  out  of  repair.  I  suppose  there  were  few  chilly 
bodies  in  the  congregaiion  who  on  the  freezing  December 
day  united  with  their  pastor  in  dedicating  this  exceptionally 
attractive  building.  "This  house,"  said  he,  "is  beautiful  and 
magnificent;  much  cost  and  labor  have  been  expended  upon 
it!"  But,  if  the  building  committee  had  satisfied  every- 
body, it  was  another  and  difficult  affair  properly  and  satis- 
factorily to  seat  or  dignify  the  house.  Within  a  year  Mr, 
Joseph  Gilbert,  Jr.,  memorialized  the  society,  "  setting  forth 
sundry  grievances  respecting  the  seating  of  our  meeting- 
house, and  more  especially  respecting  the  Commity  seating 
him."  Five  picked  men  had  carefully  done  the  work  of 
which  he  complained,  and  six  others  in  deference  to  his 
remonstrance,  were  chosen  to  review  it  and  heal  the  trouble ; 
and  we  are  to  believe  their  intervention  was  favored,  for  no 
recorded  signs  of  discontent  appear  until  the  last  of  January, 


158 

1759'  when  the  discussions  that  had  been  going  on  for  some 
time  ciiluminated  in  the  discharge  of  one  committee  and 
choice  of  another  to  "seat  the  meeting-house  in  such  just 
and  equal  manner  as  they  shall  find  suitable  ....  in  the 
usual  way  and  manner,  or  otherwise  to  project  some  other 
scheme  or  plan  for  such  purpose  as  they  shall  think  most 
eligible."  This  committee  gave  it  up  and  three  other  breth- 
ren were  asked  to  undertake  the  same.  What  they  accom- 
plished does  not  appear,  but  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1760, 
it  was  Voted  :  "  that  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Society  for  the 
future,  and  until  otherwise  ordered,  have  Liberty  to  accom- 
modate themselves  with  seats  in  the  Meeting-House  at  their 
Discretion,  any  measures  this  society  hath  heretofore  taken 
for  seating  the  house  notwithstanding."  One  year  seemed 
enough  for  this,  and  the  old  order  was  resumed  for  1761, 
and  thereafter  continued  with  some  modifications,  including 
authority  "  to  make  alterations  by  removing  and  newseating 
such  others  who  are  already  seated,  as  said  committee  may 
think  proper." 

It  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  dispose  of  the  singers. 

Formerly  the  Psalm  was  "  set "  by  an  appointee  of  the 
society,  under  whose  leadership  the  congregation  joined,  but 
after  a  while,  as  a  specialty,  Psalmody  was  regarded  as  a 
serious  matter,  and  this  congregation  had  its  trials  with  it. 
Nevertheless,  in  1733,  June  20th,  at  a  special  meeting,  legally 
warned,  His  Honor  the  Governor  in  the  chair,  it  was  cau- 
tiously voted  "  that  this  society  are  willing  and  consent 
that  such  of  them  as  encline  to  learn  to  sing  by  rule  should 
apply  themselves  in  the  best  manner  they  can  to  gain  the 
knowledge  thereof  ....  that  after  the  expiration  of  three 
months,  singing  by  rule  shall  be  admitted  to  be  practiced  in 
the  congregation  of  this  society  in  their  public  worship  on 
the  Lord's  Day,  and  until  their  Annual  Meeting  in  December 
next,  and  then  that  a  vote  be  taken  whether  the  society  will 
further  proceed  in  that  way  or  otherwise,  and  as  the  major 
vote  shall  be,  so  peacably  to  practice."  Mr.  Wm.  Goodwin 
was  requested  for  the  three  months  to  continue  setting  the 


159 

Psalms  (old  style),  as  Mr.  Maynard  Day  had  done,  and  dur- 
ing the  trial  of  the  new  experiment  Mr.  Jos.  Gilbert,  Jr., 
would  perform  that  service.  It  succeeded,  was  voted  into 
order  in  December,  and  Mr.  Gilbert  continued  with  the 
responsibility  of  setting  the  Psalms  (new  style).  So  then 
the  service  of  song  gradually  advanced  to  more  special 
notice.  Instructions  in  Psalmody  were  promoted  ;  the  choir 
came  to  the  front,  and,  of  course,  must  have  a  becoming 
place  in  the  assembly.  If  they  were  here,  as  otherwheres, 
to  be  awarded  seats  at  the  head  of  the  center  aisle,  it  would 
be  somewhat  to  the  discomfiture  of  those  who  had  occupied 
them  hitherto.  The  matter  was  delayed  here  and  in  other 
churches.  At  Medford,  Mass.,  the  church  refused  to  "  grant 
seats"  to  singers  at  all,  as  late  as  1770.  At  Hollis,  N.  H., 
in  1784,  it  was  agreed  "that  twelve  feet  of  the  hind  body 
seats  below,  next  the  Broad  aisle,  be  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  singers  on  condition  that  a  certain  number  of  them  will 
give  the  Glass  necessary  to  repair  the  Vv'indows."  However, 
a  satisfactory  location  was  found  for  the  singers  of  this 
society,  and  without  the  payment  by  them  of  a  premium  in 
glass. 

In  October,  1769,  a  society  of  singing  masters  "  voluntarily 
associated  with  a  view  to  encourage  Psalmody  in  this  Gov- 
ernment,'' invited  the  public  to  the  South  Meeting-House  to 
hear  several  new  pieces  of  music  performed  with  voices  and 
instruments,  and  a  sermon  preached  on  the  occasion."  This 
was  a  suggestion  of  coming  accessions,  and,  eventually,  with 
numerous  flutes  and  viols,  the  singers  betook  themselves  to 
the  gallery  opposite  the  pulpit.  Just  when  this  change  took 
place  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  the  choir  secured  the  place, 
and  thereafter  were  ready  when  wanted.  They  had  their 
part  in  "the  becoming  Cheerfulness  and  Decency  which 
characterized  the  occasion"  when  Mr.  Strong  was  installed. 
When  the  reverend  council  with  the  young  candidate  and 
the  brethren  of  the  church  and  the  committee  of  the  society 
came  in  procession  from  the  house  of  Capt.  Hugh  Ledlie, 
where  they  had  convened,  the  solemn  noise  of  the  singers' 


i6o 

anthem  filled  the  sanctuary,  and  the  chroniclers  of  the  event 
gave  it  a  commemoration  until  this  day.  Public  proclama- 
tion of  good  news  was  made  in  our  streets  May  6,  1783.  It 
was  the  official  tidings  of  the  cessation  of  British  hostilities  and 
of  peace.  Drum  and  gunpowder  satisfied  the  patriotic  ear 
and  heart  with  their  din,  and  then  The  Guard  and  The  Artillery 
Company,  followed  in  order  by  the  sheriff,  the  secretary,  the 
authority  of  the  town,  several  of  the  clergy,  and  the  specta- 
tors, proceeded  to  the  meeting-house  from  the  court-house, 
and  the  singers  and  players  upon  instruments  led  them  in  a 
psalm  of  thanksgiving  and  an  anthem  of  praise. 

The  house  wonderfully  escaped  total  destruction  by  electric 
fire  June  14,  1767.  It  was  one  of  Cotton  Mather's  charac- 
teristic observations  that  "if  things  that  are  smitten  by 
lightning  were  to  be  esteemed  sacred,  this  were  a  sacred 
country.  It  hath  been  seen  that  thunders  oftener  fall  upon 
houses  of  God  than  upon  other  houses.  New  England  can 
say  so.  Our  meeting-houses  and  our  ministers'  houses  have 
had  a  singular  share  in  the  strokes  of  thunder."  On  this 
memorable  Lord's  Day  a  storm  which  in  its  course  did  great 
damage  "  in  divers  parts  of  the  Colony,"  broke  over  this  town 
just  as  divine  service  was  concluded.  The  lightning  struck 
the  steeple,  "  shattering  all  the  top  work  to  pieces,"  and 
descending  to  the  audience-room,  wounded  one  or  two  persons 
and  killed  one  young  woman.  In  the  fright  and  rush  of  the 
moment  one  or  two  others  were  injured,  but  order  was 
restored  and  "  they  were  desired  every  one  of  them  to  return 
to  their  seats  and  join  in  singing  a  Psalm  to  the  praise  of 
Almighty  God."* 

This  admonitory  occurrence  evidently  had  the  effect  of 
composing  such  differences  of  opinion  regarding  the  use  of 
Dr.  Franklin's  electrical  rods  as  had  existed  in  this  community. 
There  had  been  all  sorts  of  objections  urged  against  the 
invention  from  various  parts  of  the  country,  as  one  news 
contributor  wrote,  "by  many  strong  anti-electricians  ;  and 
some  of  them  from  a  religious  principle,  had  censured  the 
erection  of  'sharp  points'  as  a  presumptuous  meddling  with 

*  Courant. 


i6i 

heaven's  artillery,  and  that  instead  of  drawing  down  safety 
wished  it  might  not  be  a  means  of  drawing  down  the  divine 
displeasure." 

However,  with  the  needed  appropriation  for  repairs  to  the 
steeple  was  included  the  amount  required  to  procure  the 
much  discussed  protectors,  and  1767,  I  think,  may  fairly  be 
entered  upon  our  annals  as  the  year  in  which  the  lightning- 
rod  man  discovered  Hartford. 

For  nearly  forty  years  more  (and  to  the  reader  of  civil  or 
ecclesiastical  history,  what  eventful  years!)  the  house  sur- 
vived the  changes  going  on  in  the  world  and  the  town,  when 
its  age  and  its  inadequacy  became  apparent  and  its  displace- 
ment inevitable.  The  society  voted  December  11,  1804, 
that  a  committee  should  consider  whether  it  was  expedient 
to  erect  a  new  one,  to  report  a  plan,  etc.,  and  March  22, 
1805,  That  a  new  Meeting-House  should  be  built  at  such 
place  as  the  County  Court  should  designate,  provided  money 
could  be  raised  by  donation  and  by  sale  of  pews  to  pay  for 
it.  In  December,  1805,  the  old,  third  house  of  worship  in 
Hartford,  was  removed.  There  is  one  of  our  present  con- 
gregation who  remembers  some  incidents  of  that  occasion — 
now  almost  four  score  years  past.  The  leave  taking  of  the 
old  pew,  fixed  in  his  child  memory  by  the  sober  and  reluctant 
manner  of  those  who  led  him  home  from  the  last  service 
there;  the  rescue  of  the  little  old  foot  rest  or  cricket,  which 
for  preservation,  he  brought  away  in  his  arms — a  rather 
burthensome  trophy  to  the  tiny  boy;  the  fall  of  the  steeple 
on  the  following  day;  the  suspense  that  awed  him  so  when 
the  long  ropes  were  manned,  and  while  they  straightened 
with  the  strong  and  steady  pull ;  the  strange  and  startling 
shimmer  of  light  upon  the  old  weathercock  which  swayed 
crazily  once  or  twice  as  the  shout  of  them  that  triumphed 
arose,  and  then  pitched  forward  and  zigzag  on  its  flight  to 
the  further  side  of  the  street. 

The  bell,  which  was  older  than  the  steeple,  and  when  recast 
(1726-9)  included  the  old  Newtown  bell — and  the  clock,  whose 
date  cannot  be  recalled,  although  referred  to  by  an  author  who 
21 


l62 

must  have  probably  seen  it,  if  at  all,  before  1774,*  were  placed 
for  the  time  being  in  the  tower  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  built 
about  ten  years  before.  An  exchange  of  parts  of  adjoining 
space  had  been  negotiated  with  the  town,  the  needed  funds  for 
the  new  outlay  were  reasonably  assured,  the  foundations  were 
laid  March  6,  1806,  and  the  building  in  which  we  are  gathered 
to-day  was  completed  and,  unencumbered  by  debt,  was  dedi- 
cated December  3,  1807 — the  congregation  having  worshiped 
during  the  long  interim  in  the  Hartford  Theatre,  in  Tlieatre 
(now  Temple)  street.  The  final  and  revised  statement  of 
the  building  committee,  made  December  22,  1812,  placed  the 
total  disbursements  by  them  at  $32,014.26.  Of  this  amount 
$27,733  had  been  realized  by  sale  of  pews  and  slips,  some  in 
fee  simple,  some  for  a  term  of  thirty  years — conveyances 
unavoidable  at  the  time,  but  embarrassing  and  troublesome 
in  later  years.  They  were  eventually,  all  but  one  or  two, 
repurchased  by  the  society  and  canceled,  and  were  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  debt  carried  so  long,  finally  and  happily 
disposed  of  the  year  before  last.  The  pews  were  built  at 
the  sides  of  the  house  above  and  below ;  slips  at  the  front  of 
the  galleries  and  in  the  middle  of  the  floor ;  one  pew  at  the 
middle  of  each  side  being  dignified  by  name  as  the  Gover- 
nor's Pew,  and  finished  with  a  somewhat  ornamented  canopy, 
which  remained,  as  some  present  will  remember,  until  1831. 
This  house,  like  its  predecessors,  was  finished  without  arti- 
ficial heat ;  and  for  the  majority  of  those  in  the  assemblies  of 
the  day,  there  was  no  help  for  the  cold.  Some, — many  indeed, 
— had  footstoves  now  and  found  a  real  amelioration  of  the 
temperature,  which  oftentimes  during  a  freezing  week 
awaited  their  coming  to  the  place  of  worship,  charged  with 
dangerous  if  not  fatal  damps  and  chills.  Notwithstanding 
we  are  to  suppose  that  all  who  worshiped  were  robust,  and 
heavily  clad  in  frosty  weather,  it  is  a  legitimate  wonder 
that  not  till  181 5  were  stoves  placed  in  this  house  ;  and  that 
when  introduced  otherwheres,  the  comfortable  innovation  was 
so  seriously  and  so  ridiculously  objected  to.  The  luxury  was 
recognized  and  protected   here.     The  footstoves   were  put 

t  Peters'  Hist.  Conn.,  p.  164. 


i63 

aside,  and  the  committee  were  instructed  (1830)  to  remove 
to  the  portico  any  that  might  be  found  at  the  close  of  service 
at  any  time. 

The  clock  returned  to  its  place  after  the  completion  of  the 
steeple,  remained  in  use  until  worn  out  and  until  the  present 
one  was  procured  in  1849.  The  old  bell,  after  numerous 
overtures  for  its  purchase,  finally  returned  and  continued 
long  to  do  service,  though  regarded  too  small  for  so  large  an 
edifice.  It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  it  after  all 
escaped  sale  and  transfer.  It  was  recast  at  Chicopee,  Mass., 
in  1843-4  with  largely  increased  weight,  but  after  compara- 
tively brief  use  failed,  and  was  recast  again  at  Troy  in  1849- 
50.  As  you  hear  it  to-day,  its  grand  and  musical  voice  is 
tuned  with  the  metal  of  the  old  bell  of  1632. 

The  first  organ  in  use  here  was  the  gift  of  individuals  of 
this  Society  and  congregation,  "cheerfully  accepted,"  the 
record  says,  June  22,  1822.  Its  successor,  an  exceptionally 
fine  and  grand  instrument,  replaced  it  in  1835.  It  was  fur- 
nished at  the  expense  of  the  society,  partly,  and  partly  by 
personal  subscriptions,  and  after  so  long  and  notable  service 
gives  place  to  the  one  which  you  hear  to-day — the  munificent 
bestowal  of  one  of  your  number,  offered  as  a  memorial  of  her 
beloved  husband. 

The  first  important  changes  that  were  made  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  this  interior,  took  place  at  the  time  that  preparations 
were  made  for  the  organ  in  1835,  when  the  galleries  and  the 
pulpit  were  lowered.  In  185 1  more  extensive  alterations 
took  place.  All  the  pews  and  the  still  lofty  pulpit  were 
removed ;  the  recess  for  the  platform  and  desk  was  built ; 
the  windows  were  changed  ;  those  at  the  west  end  closed, 
and  a  new  arch  to  the  ceiling  built,  leaving  the  audience-room 
in  shape  substantially  as  you  see  it  to-day. 

Said  Dr.  Strong,  when  this  last,  our  fourth,  edifice  in  Hart- 
ford was  dedicated,  "My  dear  youth,  you  behold  the  zeal  of 
your  fathers,  who  have  erected  this  building  and  who  daily 
pray  that  you  may  long  live  to  worship  the  God  whom  they 
have  served.  .  .  ,  We  who  stand  where  the  word  of  God  is 
dispensed,  do  now  in  his  awful  presence  charge  you,  that 
when  the  fathers  sleep  this  place  may  be  holy  to  the  Lord." 


1 64 
REMINISCENCES. 

BY    REV.    AARON    L.    CHAPIN. 

These  recollections  touch  upon  the  latter  part  of  the  first 
quarter  of  the  present  century, — when  the  population  of 
Hartford  was  less  than  ten  thousand, — when  Main  street, 
from  the  junction  of  the  Albany  and  Windsor  roads  to  the 
South  Green,  measured  the  length  of  the  city  ;  when,  north  of 
Morgan  street,  west  of  Trumbull  street,  and  south  and 
west  of  the  Little  river,  stretched  open  fields  with  only  here 
and  there  a  dwelling, — when  gas  was  unknown  and  the 
streets  were  dimly  lighted  by  oil  lamps,  few  and  far  between, — 
when  the  city  post-office  was  a  single  room  in  the  dwelling- 
house  of  the  postmaster,  nearly  opposite  the  First  church, 
with  a  window  opening  on  the  street  for  the  delivery  of  let- 
ters and  a  slit  in  the  door  for  receiving  them, — when  the  only 
church  edifices  in  the  city  were  the  First  church,  more  fre- 
quently called  the  Brick  church,  since  all  the  rest  were  of 
wood,  the  Second  or  South  church,  an  Episcopal  church 
on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Church  streets,  opposite  the 
present  site  of  Christ  church,  a  Baptist  church  on  the 
corner  of  Temple  and  Market  streets,  a  Methodist  church, 
just  erected  against  strong  protests,  on  the  corner  of  Trum- 
bull and  Chapel  streets,  and  a  small  Roman  Catholic  chapel 
on  Talcott  street. 

My  thoughts  center  around  the  First  church,  and  memory 
brings  distinctly  before  me  the  picture  of  that  house  of 
worship  as  it  then  was,  with  its  majestic  Grecian  portico, 
its  stately  Corinthian  columns,  its  high  gallery,  its  beautiful 
mahogany  pulpit  raised  to  the  level  of  the  gallery  front,  to 
which  ascent  was  made  by  flights  of  winding  stairs  on  either 
side,  its  square  pews  around  the  walls  (that  in  the  southwest 
corner  being  distinguished  as  the  governor's  pew,  and  hung 
with  heavy  drapery),  its  slips  with  high,  straight  backs  filling 
the  central  space,  and  its  grand  old  steeple,  on  the  point  of 
whose  vane  sat  a  gilded  bird  said  to  contain  a  copy  of  Dr. 


i65 

Strong's  dedication  sermon,  and  from  which  the  call  to 
service  and  the  faithful  clock's  count  of  passing  hours  rang 
out  in  the  silver  tones  of  the  clear,  sweet  bell  heard  distinctly 
in  all  parts  of  the  city.  Glad  am  I  to  learn  that  the  metal 
of  the  old  bell  is  blended  with  the  heavier  mass  of  the  new 
one,  adding  richness  to  its  deep  vibrations  as  they  linger  on 
the  ear. 

Now  let  me  take  you  to  the  slip  in  the  south  gallery,  near 
the  middle,  intimately  associated  with  my  earliest  attendance 
on  Sabbath  services  in  the  sanctuary.  I  found  it  the  other 
day  just  as  it  used  to  be,  except  that  with  the  entire  gallery, 
it  has  been  lowered  four  or  five  feet.  There  before  my  child- 
eyes  stood  the  tall,  gaunt  form  of  the  young  pastor,  Joel 
Hawes,  singularly  awkward  in  the  blacksmith's  motion  of  his 
long  arms,  singularly  impressive  as  with  soul-earnestness  he 
uttered  plain  gospel  truth,  to  which  the  emphatic  forefinger 
seemed  to  give  point  to  pierce  his  hearers'  hearts.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  house  the  singers'  gallery  was  an  object  of 
special  interest,  with  its  numerous  choir  of  young  men  and 
maidens,  supported  in  their  song  by  the  viol  and  flute  till 
the  first  little  organ  was  introduced,  a  notable  incident. 
There  come  back  to  me  to-day,  fresh  and  vivid,  the  childish 
lancies  which  busied  my  little  brain  when  that  organ  was 
first  brought  into  use — fancies  of  many  players  on  instru- 
ments shut  within  the  shining  case — fancies  of  myself 
winged  as  an  angel,  seizing  one  of  the  golden  pipes,  soaring 
around  the  vaulted  ceiling  and  making  the  arch  ring  with 
trumpet  notes  of  joy. 

To  me,  another  point  in  the  old  church  was  of  special 
interest.  It  was  the  little  end  of  the  front  slip,  cut  off  by  the 
first  column  to  the  left  of  the  pulpit.  That  slip  is  now 
removed,  and  the  column  has  a  new  pedestal  finished  to  the 
floor,  but  in  the  earlier  days,  like  the  other  slips  in  which  the 
columns  come,  it  was  divided  so  that  the  shorter  end  made 
comfortable  sittings  for  two.  There,  as  regularly  as  the 
Sabbath  returned,  were  always  to  be  seen  two  faces  familiar 
to  the  whole  congregation.     They  were  the  two  Aarons,  who, 


i66 

as  Dr.  Hawes  was  wont  to  say,  were  to  him  what  Aaron  and 
Hur  were  to  Moses — Deacon  Aaron  Chapin  and  Deacon 
Aaron  Col  ton.  Deacon  Chapin  sat  nearest  the  aisle,  his 
hands  resting  on  his  staff,  his  head  erect,  his  double  specta- 
cles thrown  back  upon  his  forehead,  a  devout  listener. 
Deacon  Colton's  place  was  by  the  column,  where,  with  con- 
veniences of  his  own  contriving,  he  took  pen  and  ink  notes 
of  every  sermon.  Some  hundreds  of  his  outlines  are  still 
extant  to  indicate  the  character  and  style  of  the- preaching 
from  that  pulpit  in  those  days.  Their  wives  were  invalids, 
unable  to  attend  church,  and  so  they  sat  by  themselves. 

These  two  men  had  come,  one  from  the  hive  of  Chapins  in 
Chicopee,  and  the  other  from  the  hive  of  Coltons  in  Long- 
meadow,  and  settled  in  Hartford  about  the  time  of  the  close 
of  the  revolutionary  war.  They  were  plain  mechanics  of  the 
same  trade — cabinet-makers — and  in  fortune  realized  the 
prayer  of  Agur.  At  about  the  age  of  sixty,  each  had  withdrawn 
from  the  stir  and  worry  of  large  business,  and  was  occupied 
by  himself  in  a  special  industry  of  his  own.  Active,  but  not 
anxious,  they  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years,  beautiful 
exemplars  of  a  cheerful,  happy  old  age,  pervaded  with  Christian 
faith  and  hope  and  love.  The  office  of  deacon  seemed  to 
come  to  them  by  a  law  of  heredity,  for  the  ancestry  of  each, 
for  four  or  five  generations,  was  a  line  of  deacons.  More- 
over, they  were  to  each  other,  own  cousins.  So  it  happened, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  in  1813  under  the  pastorate 
of  Dr.  Strong,  they  were  together  elected  deacons  of  this  First 
church,  and  retained  the  office  till  their  death  in  1838  and 
1840,  respectively.  Josiah  Beckwith,  their  special  friend, 
was  elected  at  the  same  time  with  them.  Their  colleagues 
in  office  were,  by  earlier  elections,  Ezra  Corning,  Isaac  Bull, 
and  Joseph  Steward  ;  by  later  elections,  Russell  Bunce,  Wil- 
liam W.  Ellsworth,  William  W.  Turner,  and  Thomas  S.  Wil- 
liams— a  goodly  company  of  Christian  worthies. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  and  the  independence  of  our  na- 
tion was  followed  by  a  period  of  sad  declension  and  skepticism 
quite  general.     But  as  the  nineteenth  century  opened,  there 


i67 

came  a  reviving  breath  from  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  which 
quickened  the  languishing  churches  to  new  life.  The  winter 
of  1807-8  was  the  time  of  such  a  refreshing  to  this  First 
church.  My  parents  and  grandparents  loved  to  tell  the  story 
of  that  gracious  visitation.  Often  have  I  heard  it  from  their 
lips  and  felt  its  impression  on  my  child-heart.  The  pages  of 
the  Evangelical  ]\[agazine  of  that  period  give  in  simple  terms 
a  sketch  of  the  great  revival.  The  records  of  the  church 
show  how  the  ingathering  of  that  precious  harvest  brought 
into  its  fellowship  some  scores  of  persons  who  for  half  a 
century  were  its  ornaments  of  grace  and  its  pillars  of 
strength.  With  that  revival  was  introduced  what  was  the 
"new  measure"  of  that  day — the  evening  meeting  for  social 
conference  and  prayer.  Some  conservatives  in  the  church 
looked  upon  it  with  distrust  and  suspicion.  But  the  pastor, 
Dr.  Strong,  went  into  it  with  all  his  heart  and  was  well 
sustained  by  the  earnest  spiritual  members  of  his  flock.  At 
first  the  meetings  were  held  in  private  houses  in  different 
parts  of  the  parish,  most  frequently  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Colton,  convenient  from  its  central  position.  Very  tender 
and  precious  were  the  scenes  witnessed  in  those  circles,  as 
hearts  bowed  in  penitence  found  peace  in  believing,  to  the 
joy  of  saints  on  earth  and  angels  in  heaven.  The  interest 
in  these  meetings  \yas  so  great  as  to  demand  better  and 
more  fixed  accommodations.  But  the  prejudices  of  many 
forbade  an  attempt  to  induce  the  society  to  provide  a  place. 
The  tact  and  wisdom  of  the  pastor  were  equal  to  the  emer- 
gency, and  under  his  guidance  a  few  individuals  joined  hands 
and  the  want  was  met.  Mr.  Colton  offered  a  corner  of  his 
own  lot  for  a  site.  Others  contributed  the  needed  means, 
and  the  little  brick  conference  house  on  Temple  street  was 
built.  The  records  of  the  society  show  that  a  formal  transfer 
of  the  building  to  the  society  was  made  by  deacons  Chapin 
and  Beckwith,  in  181 5.  I  think  it  had  been  completed  and 
used  for  a  few  years  previous  to  that  date.  There  the  social 
meetings  of  the  church  continued  to  be  held  till  1832,  when 
the  present  more  commodious  lecture-room  was  secured.     A 


i68 

few  days  ago  I  found  the  little  brick  house  still  standing, 
devoted  to  humbler  uses  as  a  workshop  for  a  carpenter  and  a 
painter.  As  I  crossed  the  threshold  the  old  associations 
returned.  I  remembered  how  Deacon  Colton  took  upon 
himself  the  voluntary  and  gratuitous  services  of  a  sexton  for 
the  building,  calling  in  occasionally  the  assistance  of  one  or 
another  of  his  grandsons  ;  how  the  two  deacons  were  always 
present,  the  one  with  his  pitchpipe  to  set  and  lead  the 
worship  of  song,  the  other  with  heart  always  attuned  to  lead 
in  fervent  prayer  ;  how  in  later  revivals  under  Dr.  Hawes 
the  little  room  used  to  be  filled  morning  after  morning  for  a 
sunrise  prayer-meeting ;  and  especially  how  the  house  was 
packed  with  people  eager  to  hear  Dr.  Nettleton,  as  he  came 
full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost  on  one  of  his  last  evan- 
gehstic  tours,  and  the  power  of  the  truth  uttered  in  quiet 
solemnity  of  manner  held  all,  even  the  little  boys  looking 
down  through  the  door  of  the  attic,  in  breathless  attention. 
The  walls  of  that  little  house  are  already  cracked  and  must 
soon  fall,  but  there  is  a  record  in  Heaven  of  things  done 
there  which  can  never  pass  away — of  some  hundreds  of 
redeemed  souls  it  is  written  for  the  eternal  ages,  to  the  glory 
of  God's  love  and  grace,  "  This  and  that  man  was  born 
there." 

Now  there  come  thronging  on  my  recollection,  pictures  of 
these  two  men  as  they  met  the  duties  of  their  sacred  office. 
Let  me  try  to  bring  two  or  three  of  them  out  from  the  mists 
of  the  past.  It  is  early  evening,  the  simple  supper  of  bread 
and  milk,  always  the  same,  is  finished,  and  Deacon  Colton,  with 
staff  in  one  hand  and  lantern  in  the  other,  is  starting  forth 
on  an  errand  of  Christian  love.  His  form  is  erect,  his  step 
is  elastic  and  brisk — seventy  years  have  passed  over  his  head, 
but  no  sign  of  weakness  appears  yet — he  makes  his  way 
rapidly  as  one  who  has  a  mission,  to  the  humble  home  of  a 
poor  widow  and  thence  to  the  bedside  of  a  sick  brother. 
Then  on  his  return,  he  drops  in  to  tell  Deacon  Chapin  what  he 
has  seen  and  heard,  and  they  confer  about  what  is  to  be  done 
for  these  needy  ones  of  the  flock.     Young  ears  listen  and 


169 

young  minds  apprehend  something  good  and  noble  in  such 
ministry  to  Christ's  little  ones. 

It  is  a  dismal  November  afternoon.  Deacon  Chapin,  in  his 
little  shop,  cheers  himself  with  humming  a  tune  as  he  tinkers 
the  old  watch  in  his  hand.  He  has  just  cracked  a  nut  with 
his  vise  and  passed  it  to  the  youngster  in  the  corner.  The 
door  opens  and  the  pastor  enters  with  face  downcast  and 
spirit  disheartened.  He  receives  a  kindly  greeting,  and 
almost  before  he  can  utter  his  complaint,  a  spark  of  dry 
humor  from  the  deacon's  lips  has  forced  a  smile  upon  his 
own,  and  as  the  talk  runs  on,  the  burden  on  his  soul  is  lifted 
and  removed,  and  after  a  few  minutes,  he  passes  out  joyous 
and  hopeful.  It  was  good  Christian  talk  all  the  way  through, 
and  yet  there  was  hardly  a  solemn  word  in  the  whole  con- 
versation. The  blessed  thing  about  the  interview  was  the 
cheerful  spirit  of  one  whose  religion  was  the  tenor  of  a 
trustful,  godly  life. 

It  is  a  Saturday  afternoon,  the  day  before  the  communion. 
On  Deacon  Colton  devolves  the  charge  of  preparing  the  ele- 
ments for  the  Supper.  All  the  manual  labor  must  be  done,  as 
far  as  possible,  before  the  Saturday's  sun  shall  set.  The  bread 
made  of  flour  chosen  and  set  apart  for  this  purpose,  baked 
to  just  the  perfect  tint  of  brown,  is  before  him.  He  takes 
the  knife  devoted  to  this  peculiar  use  and  reverently  removes 
the  crust,  then  skillfully  divides  each  loaf  and  binds  it 
together  to  keep  its  place  and  moisture,  then  carefully  packs 
all  with  the  sacred  vessels  and  calls  upon  his  grandson  to 
accompany  him,  wheeling  the  precious  load  to  be  safely 
deposited  in  the  church  before  the  sun  goes  down.  This 
done,  he  returns  and  devotes  the  quiet  of  the  evening  to  the 
preparation  of  his  soul  to  hold  communion  with  his  crucified 
and  living  Lord.  In  all  this  there  was  nothing  like  fetichism, 
no  foolish  superstition,  but  a  cherished,  hallowed  association 
of  material  symbols  with  spiritual  realities,  grand  and  holy. 
To  the  children's  taste,  no  bread  was  ever  so  sweet  as  those 
communion  crusts,  which,  with  sweet  milk,  made  their  Sun- 
day morning  meal. 
22 


170 

One  more  picture  must  suffice.  It  is  in  the  new  lecture- 
room  in  the  early  days  of  its  use.  Deacon  Colton  has  his  place 
uniformly  just  by  the  desk  at  the  left  hand  of  the  minister. 
Deacon  Chapin's  place  is  marked  by  an  iron  rod  which  rises 
above  the  level  of  the  pews  a  few  seats  in  front  of  the  desk. 
A  few  minutes  before  the*  conference  service  is  to  begin,  a 
lamp  is  set  on  the  top  of  the  rod,  and  by  it  stands  the  good 
old  man  of  eighty,  to  guide  the  little  company  of  singers 
gathered  before  him  in  the  practice  of  the  tunes  to  be  sung. 
He  is  much  delighted  with  the  new  revival  hymns  of  the 
Christian  Lyre  just  published,  and  would  mingle  some  of 
them  with  the  older  and  more  staid  strains  of  the  sanctuary. 
The  clear  tenor  voice  is  not  so  steady  as  it  once  was,  but  it 
has  lost  none  of  its  sweetness.  He  gives  the  key-note  from 
his  pitchpipe,  with  the  beat  of  his  cane  he  brings  up  the  time 
when  it  lags,  his  own  enthusiasm  kindles  a  glow  of  praise  in 
other  souls,  and  when  the  gathered  congregation  all  join  in 
under  his  lead,  the  song  is  full  of  heart-melody,  and  is  akin 
to  the  worship  of  heaven.  He  continued  to  serve  at  this  post 
of  duty  till  his  voice  began  to  break,  and  through  the  weaken- 
ing of  his  mental  faculties  he  would  name  a  new  tune  and 
start  an  old  one,  to  the  amusement  and  confusion  of  his  class. 
Then  he  withdrew,  and  afterward  spent  many  an  evening  in 
running  over  old  familiar  hymns  and  tunes,  offering  unto 
God  the  silent  song-worship  of  a  soul  that  never  faltered  in 
its  faith  and  love  even  to  the  end. 

The  simple  lives  of  these  Levites  of  the  Lord's  house  were 
almost  exempt  from  sickness.  Each  was  stricken  down  by 
paralysis  at  last,  Deacon  Chapin  in  his  86th,  Deacon  Colton  in 
his  82d  year.  The  savor  of  their  true-hearted  piety  lingers 
still  on  earth,  and  will  ascend  as  sweet  incense  before  the 
throne  of  God  forever.  Their  mortal  parts  lie  side  by  side 
in  the  North  burying-ground,  and  not  far  ofi",  with  them 
waiting  the  resurrection,  sleeps  the  body  of  their  loved 
pastor.  Dr.  Strong,  and  I  think  also  that  of  their  later  pastor, 
Dr.  Hawes.  May  this  First  church  of  Connecticut,  so  blest 
in  its  past  history,  be  favored  ever  with  a  succession  of  no 
less  faithful  pastors  and  no  less  faithful  deacons. 


Friday  Afternoon 


RELATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  THE  CIVIL 
GOVERNMENT. 

BY    PINCKNEY    W.    ELLSWORTH. 

At  the  request  of  the  committee  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Hartford,  an  article  is  now  presented  by  the 
writer,  upon  the  relation  between  the  Congregational  order, 
and  the  State  ;  and  especially  the  influence  exercised  upon 
the  latter  by  this  ancient  Society,  collectively  or  individually. 
As  it  is  not  my  intent  to  preach  a  sermon,  a  text  was  omitted. 
But  as  the  essay  was  proving  too  long  for  the  patience  of 
this  audience,  and  as  abbreviation  was  necessary  by  cutting 
off  both  ends,  taking  out  much  from  the  middle  and  several 
joints  from  its  body  elsewhere,  producing  a  solution  of  con- 
tinuity, as  we  professionally  describe  it,  I  have  adopted  the 
17th  verse  of  the  65th  chapter  of  Isaiah  as  a  rallying  point, 
should  any  become  lost  in  its  mazes  and  that  of  prophecy  : 
"  Behold  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth."  Although 
undertaken  with  reluctance,  the  writer  could  not  refuse  to 
do  the  little  in  his  power  to  honor  the  memory  of  the  heroic 
men  and  women  of  1633  ;  for  in  his  own  veins  flows  the  blood 
both  of  Separatist  and  Huguenot,  whose  names  still  live  in 
the  family  record.  The  acts  of  the  clergy  will  be  delineated 
by  other  and  abler  hands.  They  were  the  life  of  the  move- 
ment which  took  the  Colonists  out  of  the  jaws  of  the  lion, 
though  placing  temporarily  many  of  the  pious  and  learned 
of  England's  gentry  and  yeomanry  in  a  crucible  of  affliction, 
from  which,  under  the  watchful  eye  of  a  Divine  overseer,  was 
poured  forth  an  ingot  of  inestimable  value.  Thus  was  ful- 
filled again  and  on  a  grander  scale,  "  Behold  I  have  refined 
thee,  but  not  with  silver,  I  have  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace 
of  affliction."  In  the  premises  I  would  say,  Congregational- 
ism is  the  simplest  and  most  natural  form  of  administration 


174 

as  regards  ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs,  and  is  practicable 
only  with  those  having  a  deep  sense  of  personal  freedom, 
and  unhampered  by  an  aristocracy,  and  is  the  frame  work  or 
body  through  which  the  vital  forces  of  liberty  and  religion 
manifested  their  presence  in  New  England.  We  propose 
now  to  examine  this  principle  which  pervades  all  public 
transactions,  not  as  an  abstraction,  but  concrete  in  the  lives 
of  the  settlers,  and  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government 
they  established,  showing  the  ennobling,  invigorating,  and 
happy  effects  of  piety,  when  acting  through  the  most  natural, 
simple,  and  Scriptural  polity  of  independency.  Any  other 
method  of  presenting  the  subject  would  not  be  suggestive 
to  those  making  ecclesiastical  matters  a  professional  study, 
or  interesting  to  a  miscellaneous  audience. 

The  Church  polity,  especially  as  related  to  the  civil  power, 
was  not  fully  settled  by  the  colonists  for  a  long  period,  though 
the  general  idea  of  equality  was  acted  on.  Nevertheless, 
educated  to  believe  the  Church  should  find  a  protector  in  the 
State,  notwithstanding  their  bitter  experience,  they  adopted 
the  same  error  in  a  modified  form,  giving  the  Church  the 
precedence.  This  was  especially  true  of  Massachusetts,  and 
led  of  course  to  trouble,  continuing  nearly  a  century  ;  develop- 
ing endless  disputes,  schism,  the  half-way  covenant,  and  a 
fatal  decline  in  piety,  from  which  the  church  was  rescued 
finally  by  the  preponderating  weight  of  40,000  or  50,000  con- 
verts, the  fruit  of  the  great  awakening  under  Edwards  in 
1735  to  1743.  The  Puritans  at  first  seem  to  have  had  their 
minds  fixed  on  the  rescue  of  the  Church  from  tyranny  over 
the  conscience,  without  having  settled  on  the  "modus  in  quo," 
and  the  State  was  of  little  account  except  as  protector  of 
their  own  personal  rights  and  religious  freedom.  The  gen- 
eral opinion  as  to  what  was  correct,  and  which,  more  or  less 
modified,  lay  as  foundation  truths,  was  expressed  by  Daven- 
port at  New  Haven  in  the  great  meeting  in  Newman's  barn  : 
"  Ecclesiastical  administrations  are  a  divine  order,  appointed 
to  believers  for  holy  communion  in  holy  things ;  civil  admin- 
istrations are  a  human  order,  appointed  by   God  to  men,  for 


175 

civil  fellowship  of  human  things."  "  That  the  ecclesiastical 
order  and  the  civil  must  have  different  laws,  different  officers, 
and  different  powers."  John  Wise  in  1717  made  a  great  sen- 
sation in  laying  down  Congregational  principles  as  now 
accepted,  which  expressed  the  views  of  Roger  Williams,  so 
much  in  advance  of  his  time,  that  in  ecclesiastical  censures 
the  State  has  no  interest,  and  that  it  has  no  authority  over 
conscience. 

The  ways  of  God  are  not  our  ways.  The  very  calamities, 
almost  crushing  in  their  character,  wliich  beset  our  fathers, 
saved  New  England.  Sickness,  cold,  famine,  war,  death,  and 
sorrows  innumerable,  protected  the  colonies  from  the  rush 
of  those  whose  only  motives  were  gain,  and  preserved  the 
land  for  those  who  could  sacrifice  all  for  the  love  of  God. 
It  was  only  by  force  the  best  stock  of  England  could  be 
wrenched  from  her  soil  and  transplanted  to  Nev/  England  ; 
thei'efore  the  cruelties  of  Archbishop  Laud  were  made 
instrumental  in  giving  at  the  start  the  noblest  men  of 
Europe  to  the  colonies,  and  God  protected  them  ;  not  indeed 
by  a  sea  of  fire  as  Jefferson  wished,  but  barriers  of  floating 
ice  and  a  storm-swept  ocean,  clothed  with  unknown  terrors, 
to  them  boundless  in  extent,  yet  a  sea  to  be  removed,  when 
its  protection  should  be  no  more  needed  and  the  swift 
steamer  and  sub-marine  cable  should  practically  say,  there 
is  "  no  more  sea."  Thus  the  holy  seed  was  left  to  germinate 
in  peace,  even  under  the  freezing  blasts  of  an  American 
winter,  and  in  a  rugged  soil,  whose  matured  fruit  should 
"  shake  like  Lebanon."  With  the  word  of  God  came  light, 
and  with  light,  liberty.  Immediately  on  the  entrance  of 
these  factors  into  the  life  of  nations,  we  see  the  most  aston- 
ishing results.  At  once  upon  the  pressure  of  evils  so  intol- 
erable that  exile  or  rebellion  alone  presented  hope  of  relief, 
the  two  wings  of  the  great  eagle  of  the  apocalypse,  which 
had  once  borne  the  church  to  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  the 
mountains  of  Switzerland,  and  the  morasses  of  Holland, 
were  outstretched  for  a  new  and  mightier  flight,  to  that  far 
distant  portion  of  the  wilderness  prepared  for  her,  where  she 


1/6 

might  be  nourished  in  safety  from  that  terrible  power  which 
for  a  thousand  years  had  placed  its  foot  upon  the  neck  of 
every  potentate,  and  reigned  triumphant  over  "  all  kindreds 
and  tongues  and  nations."  It  is  true  that  papacy  had  parted 
with  many  of  its  errors  in  manifesting  itself  as  the  church  of 
England,  and  in  its  new  phase  held  in  its  communion  many 
truly  godly  men  ;  but  its  hierarchy  was  still  actuated  by  the 
spirit  of  persecution,  and  a  pope  yet  lived  in  the  person  of  a 
king,  head  of  the  church,  neither  by  divine  appointment  nor 
the  will  of  its  members,  many  of  whom  still  pined  for  the 
gold,  the  scarlet,  the  merchandise  and  pomp  of  Rome.  The 
spirit  of  popery  is  tyranny  over  the  souls  of  men  in  the 
name  of  Christ.  The  true  meaning  of  anti-Christ  is,  in 
place  of  Christ.  There  simply  remained  the  old  enemy, 
with  a  new  name  and  new  ministers.  It  still  had  two  horns 
like  a  lamb,  and  its  voice  was  unchanged.  Observe  the  fact, 
not  without  significance,  that  the  eagle,  as  if  selected  by  a 
divine  heraldry,  now  symbolizes  the  nation,  which  by  pro- 
phetic figure  was  thereby  saved.  Let  us  then  when  we  con- 
template this  emblem  of  our  country,  with  unfeigned  grati- 
tude remember  him  who  said  of  his  people  found  in  like  cir- 
cumstances, "  As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over 
her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth 
them  on  her  wings,  so  the  Lord  did  lead  him  and  there  was 
no  strange  God  with  him."  The  early  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts were  called  Separatists,  and  were  much  opposed  to  the 
Puritans,  who,  remaining  in  the  church  of  England,  were 
looking  for  an  internal  reform.  But  on  emigrating  to  America 
the  words  of  John  Robinson  were  fulfilled,  and  when  the 
repressing  hand  of  power  was  removed  the  Puritans  dropped 
the  uniform  of  the  man  of  sin,  and  all  returned  to  the  sim- 
plicity which  is  in  Christ,  uniting  at  the  table  of  the  Lord 
under  the  name  of  Puritan.  None  of  the  colonies  at  first 
broke  from  the  church  of  England  except  that  of  Plymouth, 
and  the  clergy  were  all  ordained  by  English  bishops.  But 
as  their  minds  became  enlightened  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and 
the   mists     of    superstition    and    of    early   education   were 


177 

removed,  they  all  stood  forth  as  freemen  in  Christ,  and 
adopting  the  now  existing  polity,  were  able  to  apply  every 
energy  to  extend  the  cause  and  kingdom  of  their  divine  Mas- 
ter. We  see  the  inestimable  value  of  the  first  settlers  of  a 
nation  being  godly  men,  for  as  the  seed  such  is  the 
fruit.  Every  people  will  inevitably  find  themselves  sooner 
or  later  under  a  government  demanded  by  the  moral  state 
of  the  majority  if  that  majority  is  large  and  powerful : 
in  other  words,  will  have  as  good .  as  it  deserves.  It 
would  be  utterly  impossible  for  any  nation  to  possess  a 
free,  stable,  and  safe  government,  not  founded  on  the  princi- 
ples taught  in  the  word  of  God.  The  Orsini  bomb,  the  dag- 
ger, dynamite,  the  assassin's  bullet,  are  not  the  weapons 
blessed  by  Him  who  said  "Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but 
by  my  spirit ; "  nor  were  they  the  defences  of  the  settlers  of 
New  England.  It  would  be  impossible  for  those  seeking 
free  institutions  in  Europe,  especially  for  those  possessing  a 
state  religion,  to  maintain  self-government  as  it  exists  in  the 
United  States.  Marshal  Prym  recognized  this  insuperable 
obstacle  in  the  recent  revolution  in  Spain.  Even  France, 
which  has  a  small  element  of  Protestantism  to  redeem  it,  is 
ever  on  a  volcano.  The  tocsin  of  St.  Germain,  sounding  the 
death  signal  of  75,000  children  of  God,  still  rings  in  the  ears 
of  Him  who  said  "vengeance  is  mine,"  the  scales  of  whose 
justice  respond  to  an  atom's  weight  ;  and  France  humbled 
herself  in  the  dust  before  the  glittering  bayonets  of  the 
martial  host,  descendants  of  the  350,000  exiled  Huguenots, 
the  moral  and  military  strength  of  her  realm,  but  who, 
protected  by  the  friendly  arms  of  Germany  were  in  their  sons 
an  avenging  sword.  The  steps  of  her  Goddess  of  Liberty 
are  unsteady  on  a  land  slippery  with  the  blood  of  martyrs  of 
Jesus.  They  were  the  salt  which  ages  could  not  restore, 
which,  had  it  remained,  would  have  given  stability,  averted 
moral  corruption,  and  made  her  the  peer  of  England  ;  pre- 
venting the  commune,  the  Reign  of  Terror  and  of  the 
guillotine,  the  carnage  of  Napoleon  ;  Eilau,  Austerlitz,  Tra- 
falgar, Waterloo,  the  madness  of  the  Second  Empire,  Grave- 
23 


178 

lotte,  Sedan  ;  the  siege  of  Paris  and  of  Metz ;  that  sad 
episode  in  her  history  of  slaughter,  the  second  commune, 
with  the  Satanic  orgies  of  the  Petroleuse,  legitimate  daughters 
of  her  goddess,  from  whose  torches,  lighted  by  the  flames 
of  the  bottomless  pit,  the  battered  palaces  of  Paris  were 
rescued,  only  by  the  superlative  horrors  of  "  the  week  of 
blood  ;  "  "For  they  have  shed  the  blood  of  saints  and  proph- 
ets, and  Thou  hast  given  them  blood  to  drink,  for  they  are 
worthy."  Nor  can  any  other  people  stand  fast  in  that  liberty 
which  God  designed,  who  are  not  free  in  spirit,  who  know 
not  the  God  of  the  Protestant,  the  Protestant  Bible,  and 
Protestant  principles.  The  chief  sorrows  of  Ireland  spring 
from  moral  causes,  the  removal  of  which  will  bring  prosperity. 
The  persecution  of  Jews  in  Russia,  the  civil  wars  in  Mexico, 
the  repressive  laws  of  Spain,  show  the  unfitness  of  those 
nations  for  free  institutions  and  national  independence.  W^ell 
said  that  noble  Puritan,  Milton,  of  the  crowds  who  shout  so 
fiercely  for  liberty  and  equality  : 

They  '"bawl  for  freedom  in  their  senseless  mood, 
And  still  revolt  when  truth  would  set  them  free : 

License  they  mean,  when  they  cry  liberty. 

For  who  loves  that  must  first  be  wise  and  good. 

But  from  that  mark  how  far  they  rove  we  see 
For  all  this  waste  of  wealth  and  loss  of  blood." 

It  is  known  that  in  want  of  any  other  precedent,  the  Puri- 
tans adopted  the  Mosaic  code,  except  where  applicable  to 
the  Hebrews  only.  The  circumstances  were  much  alike. 
On  the  formation  of  their  respective  governments,  their  num- 
bers were  nearly  equal,  and  the  after  division  into  States, 
thirteen  in  number  corresponded  with  the  tribes,  counting, 
as  Moses  did,  the  two  sons  of  Joseph  for  their  father,  also 
making  thirteen,  a  very  interesting  and  suggestive  coinci- 
dence, taken  in  connection  with  what  is  to  be  said.  The  laws 
were,  as  a  general  thing,  adequate  to  their  circumstances,  and 
in  humanity  immeasurably  in  advance  of  those  of  England, 
especially  as  regards  capital  oifences,  and  the  apportionment 
and  tenure  of  land;  for  the   English,  though  a  sincere  and 


179 

noble  people,  seem  always  to  have  retained  something  of 
the  harshness  of  character  of  their  early  progenitors,  the 
Northmen. 

Let  me  say  that,  without  claiming  perfection  for  the 
fathers,  we  must  in  justice  judge  them  according  to  the  age 
in  which  they  lived ;  educated  under  severe  and  sumptuary 
laws,  with  treason  and  rebellion  staring  them  in  the  face  at 
every  turn,  they  were  somewhat  intolerant,  not  because  they 
denied  the  right  of  worshiping  God  according  to  the  con- 
science, as  did  the  mother  country,  but  simply  to  preserve 
their  own  liberty,  determined  not  to  part  with  their  own 
freedom  to  any  power,  especially  that  one  the  fundamental 
principle  of  which  was  persecution,  and  to  which  liberty  of 
conscience  was  an  unknown  term. 

Of  the  measures  finally  adopted  by  the  settlers  for  fixing 
a  State  polity,  the  first  record  appears  in  notes  of  Henry 
Wolcott,  Jr.,  taken  at  the  delivery  of  a  discourse  in  the  little 
meeting-house  on  the  public  square  in  Hartford,  by  Rev. 
Thomas  Hooker,  June  lo,  1638,  a  poHty  the  fruit  of  which 
is  the  New  England  of  to-day.  Hume  says:  "The  precious 
spark  of  liberty  had  been  kindled  and  preserved  by  the 
Puritans  alone,  and  it  was  to  this  sect,  whose  principles 
appear  so  frivolous,  and  habits  so  ridiculous,  that  the  Eng- 
lish owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their  constitution." 

Congregationalism  is  eminently  democratic  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term,  elevating  to  a  higher  level,  not,  as  many 
suppose,  depressing  all  to  the  lowest  one ;  for  equality  in  the 
sight  of  God  produces  equality  in  the  sight  of  law,  and  social 
equality,  varied  only  by  considerations  of  character,  official 
position,  and  the  accident  of  wealth  ;  the  latter  of  little  value 
in  estimating  title  to  honor  with  those  themselves  virtuous 
and  refined. 

The  Puritans  wished  to  found  churches  cleansed  of  all 
superimposed  devices  of  man,  and  which,  entirely  distinct, 
were  yet  one  in  Christ  as  the  only  and  all-sufficient  head,  and 
in  which  the  spirit  of  Christ  shadowed  forth  in  the  simplest 
types  or  ordinances  was  a  living  power. 


I  So 

There  must  be,  owing  to  the  constitution  of  man,  a 
power  which  will  control  his  passions.  This  may  be  spiritual 
or  civil ;  but  in  most  of  human  history  it  has  been  a  civil 
power  dominated  by  a  spiritual,  and  that,  too,  by  one,  the 
scriptures  of  truth  assure  us,  adverse  to  the  interests  of  the 
human  race.  The  Puritan  gave  this  power  to  God,  and  that 
too,  a  holy  God,  and  thus  the  government  approached  per- 
fection as  nearly  as  possible  in  a  world  not  yet  "become  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lord  and  of  his  Christ."  We  had  theocracy 
as  applied  to  the  individual,  and  democracy  as  applied  to  the 
State,  viz. :  a  theocratic  democracy.  As  the  individual  owed 
allegiance  to  God,  then  to  the  State,  of  course  all  acting  on 
such  principles  would  make  a  perfect  State,  not  by  enactment 
of  statute,  but  by  the  law  of  conscience,  for  to  such,  in  an 
important  sense,  there  is  no  law.  For  this  reason  the  Bible, 
the  guide  of  the  Puritan  and  the  charter  of  liberty,  is  under 
the  ban  of  every  tyrant,  whether  he  wears  the  ermine  or  the 
surplice,  whether  he  wields  the  sword  or  brandishes  the  keys. 
By  this  sign  recognition  is  infallible. 

As  types  are  prophecies,  of  which  Scripture  is  full,  and  as 
all  point  to  the  suftering  or  reigning  Saviour,  let  us  see  how 
God  by  His  Providence  interprets  the  grand  declaration 
"  Behold  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth."  As  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  typified  the  final  consummation,  so 
Isaiah  Ixv,  17,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  foreshadows  two 
events  no  less  stupendous,  but  more  glorious  in  contemplation. 

This  passage  is  expressly  connected  with  the  exaltation  of 
the  Gentiles  and  the  adoption  of  a  people  for  himself  in 
place  of  those  rejected  of  God.  Though  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah  inspired  the  prophetic  pen,  no  immediate  glory 
would  follow  that  amazing  event,  but  rather  a  sword.  The 
robes  of  the  bride  were  for  long  ages  to  be  sackcloth,  and 
her  veil  the  deepest  black  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  21st  of 
December,  1620,  the  Bible  was  given  an  opportunity  to 
mould  a  nation  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Then 
it  was,  as  Canning  said,  "  Protestantism  turned  to  the  new 
world,  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  old."     Tlicn,  and  never 


i8r 

before,  was  erected  a  fulcrum,  on  which  might  rest  a  divine 
lever  mightier  than  that  of  the  dream  of  Archimedes,  working 
slowly  but  surely  through  the  enfranchised  word,  and  ulti- 
mately to  topple  over  the  monuments  of  human  pride  and 
power,  placing  on  sure  foundation  the  stone  which  should  fill 
the  earth.  Prior  to  that  time,  even  from  the  days  of  Wick- 
liffe,  though  the  mornmg  star  had  begun  to  rise,  still  darkness 
covered  the  nations.  How  barren  was  literature  up  to  the 
time  of  Luther!  How  feeble  was  invention  !  How  meager 
science !  How  dead  the  humanities  of  life !  This  was  a 
golden  period  for  prelacy,  but  of  gloom  for  the  human  race. 
Then  it  was  the  entrance  of  the  word  brought  light,  and  also 
a  sword ;  but  in  the  moment  of  extremity  the  church,  lifted  to 
the  skies,  and  borne  on  "the  two  wings  of  a  great  eagle" 
to  a  wilderness  at  the  vv^orld's  end,  alighted  on  the  rock 
of  Plymouth,  and  its  footfall,  if  unobserved  on  earth,  stirred 
the  hosts  of  heaven.  Kossuth  said  :  "  The  musketry  of  the 
farmers  at  Lexington  and  Concord  was  heard  around  the 
world."  So  was  felt  the  advent  of  the  feeble,  suffering 
church  in  New  England.  Little  as  the  event  appeared,  all 
were  called  upon  to  "sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song,  and  his 
praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea, 
and  all  that  is  therein,  the  isles  and  the  inhabitants  thereof." 
"  Let  the  inhabitants  of  the  rock  sing,  let  them  shout  from 
the  top  of  the  mountains."  Mighty  changes  were  consequent 
on  the  planting  of  the  standard  of  liberty  on  the  snowy  hills 
of  Massachusetts  on  that  gloomy  day  of  December.  We 
must  not  judge  by  appearance  only,  for  sorrow  seems  the  first 
lot  of  every  great  and  useful  conception.  As  we  compare  the 
condition  of  the  world  now  with  what  it  was  in  1620,  we  can 
but  exclaim  :  "  Thou  Iiast  made  all  things  new.  Thou  hast 
indeed  made  us  to  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  that 
we  might  eat  the  increase  of  the  fields  and  to  suck  honey 
out  of  the  rock,  and  oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock."  The  world 
took  from  that  moment  a  new  start.  A  returned  missionary 
said,  after  seeing  how  things  are  done  in  heathen  lands,  it 
seemed  to  him  "  a  man  could  not  drive  a  nail  right  without 


l82 

the  gospel."  We  know  Christianity  invigorates  the  mind, 
elevates  the  character,  expels  lov^f  thoughts  by  ennobling 
conceptions  of  God,  inspires  energy,  utilizes  every  faculty, 
arouses  invention,  discovers  new  agencies,  and  new  and 
better  ways  of  doing  all  things. 

Under  this  heaven-born  stimulus  "  what  hath  God 
wrought !  "  Since  the  Puritan  consecrated  the  new  world  to 
God,  what  mortal  and  physical  results  have  ensued  !  The 
very  thought  fills  one  with  amazement  ;  yet  all  have  emanated 
from  an  energy  before  latent  in  His  word,  working  its  legiti- 
mate effects  on  man,  when  liberated  and  allowed  full  play. 
This  is  the  true  philosopher's  stone.  The  application  of  the 
power  of  steam,  infinitely  more  surprising  and  beneficent 
than  any  or  all  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world  united, 
has  changed  every  commercial  relation. and  enlarged  in  an 
unlimited  degree  the  control  of  man  over  the  forces  of 
nature.  This  agency  we  owe  to  John  Fitch,  born  near  the 
boundary  of  Hartford  and  South  Windsor,  and  within  the 
sound  of  the  bell  of  this  church,  hastening  the  time  when, 
as  President  Stiles  translates  it,  "There  shall  be  a  great 
traveling  to  and  fro."  The  locomotive  has  done  its  share  in 
making  ready  for  the  advent,  we  believe,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway  for  our 
God.  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted  and  every  mountain  and 
hill  shall  be  made  low,  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight, 
and  the  rough  places  plain  :  and  the  Glory  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  revealed."  This  sublime  oriental  figure,  announcing  the 
dignity  of  the  coming  Messiah,  met  no  literal  fulfillment  in 
the  mortal  life  of  the  Man  of  Sorrow,  in  whom,  to  human 
eyes,  "  there  was  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him,"  and 
having  made  but  one  triumphal  progress  of  two  miles,  down 
the  narrow,  precipitous,  and  stony  path  of  the  declivity  of 
Olivet,  riding  "  meek  and  lowly  "  on  an  ass'  colt,  on  his  way  to 
execution,  and  with  eyes  filled  with  tears  at  the  miseries 
about  to  fall  on  Jerusalem.  But  there  is  a  wonderful  fulfill- 
ment as  he  enters  the  New  World,  where  "  the  chariots  are 
with  shining  steel  in  the  day  of  his  preparation."     "  They 


i83 

shall  seem  like  torches,  they  shall  run  like  the  lightnings." 
This  last  prophecy  of  Nahiim  probably  has  a  deeper  signifi- 
cance than  the  overthrow  of  Nineveh.  Have  we  not  often 
fallen  into  the  error  of  the  Jew,  who  mistakes  shadow  for  sub- 
stance ?  The  spirit  of  Prophecy  is  to  testify  of  Jesus,  and 
the  fifteenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter,  referring  to  the  same 
war  of  Nebuchadnezzar  is  expressly  quoted  as  applicable  to 
the  reign  of  Christ.  Besides,  Scripture  declares,  all  these 
things  happened  as  "  tupoi,"  figures,  for  us  on  whom  the 
ends  of  the  world  are  come.  Such  certainly  was  the  under- 
standing of  the  Old  Testament,  by  the  writers  of  the  New. 
God  gave  not  this  power  for  evil,  as  well  as  good,  to  Philip 
2d,  or  a  Tamerlane,  but  reserved  it  for  the  new  era,  when  the 
humanities  taught  by  our  Lord  had  softened  the  hearts  of 
men  and  wrought  in  them  a  sense  of  brotherhood,  making 
them  safer  custodians  of  such  mighty  agencies.  The  world 
is  now  dependent  in  most  of  its  commercial  transactions  upon 
the  telegraph  and  telephone.  New  England  inventions,  among 
the  latent  powers  of  this  new  creation,  which  no  doubt  still 
contains  many  new  forces  and  applications  of  old  ones  yet 
undiscovered.  Let  us  briefly  consider  the  workings  of  evan- 
gelical truth  in  its  physical  results  in  New  England,  aside 
from  the  moral  power  thus  created ;  particularly  as  exempli- 
fied in  this  community  by  members  of  this  church  on  those 
trained  under  the  same  energizing  influences. 

To  Horace  Wells,  M.D.,  a  member  of  this  church,  the 
world  is  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of 
anaesthesia  in  surgery,  an  event  the  most  important,  in  that 
department,  of  this  century  and  perhaps  of  any  age.  The  cot- 
ton gin,  invented  by  Whitney  of  New  Haven,  added  hundreds 
of  millions  to  the  wealth  of  this  country.  The  sewing-machine 
is  a  constant  source  of  wonder,  more  marvelous  and  infinitely 
more  useful  than  the  pyramids.  Two  members  of  this 
church,  Dr.  Mason  F.  Cogswell  and  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallau- 
det,  opened  the  avenue  of  knowledge  and  religion  to  the 
large  class  of  deaf  mutes;  practically  making  the  deaf  to 
hear  and  dumb  to  speak.     A  son  of  a  member  of  this  church 


1 84 

revolutionized  the  art  of  war  by  land  and  sea,  through  the 
discovery  of  the  superiority  of  breech-loading  and  revolving- 
arms,  and  the  submarine  torpedo;  out  of  which  grew  breech- 
loading  and  rifled  cannon,  and  the  Gatlinggun,  an  invention  of 
a  member  of  a  sister  Congregational  Church.  Now  no  nation 
ventures  on  the  arbitrament  of  battle  without  Connecticut 
arms  and  munitions,  and  relies,  whether  English,  French,  or 
Russian,  as  certainly  on  these  as  on  the  treasury  of  the 
Rothschilds.  God's  way  of  ending  wars  would  seem  to  be 
ill  keeping  with  his  usual  plans,  precisely  the  opposite  from 
human  expectations,  viz.,  making  it  so  destructive  that  it  will 
not  be  lightly  undertaken,  and  so  costly  that  money  rather 
than  arms  will  decide  the  issue:  and  the  gold  he  will  give 
and  has  given,  as  we  shall  see,  to  those  best  fitted  to  use  it 
for  His  glory.  The  very  thunderbolts  are  harnessed  to  the 
chariot  of  science  and  used  as  motive  power,  and  Morse, 
born  in  Charlestown,  now  to  all  intents  united  to  Cambridge 
(which  saw  the  natal  day  of  this  Society),  was  allowed  to 
know  more  than  the  wisest  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  could 
have  replied  in  the  affirmative  to  the  question  put  to  Job, 
"  Canst  thou  send  lightnings  that  they  may  go  and  say  unto 
thee  '  Here  we  are  .-''"  for  the  electric  fluid  is  man's  busiest 
servant.  Vast,  also,  has  been  the  change  in  the  heathen 
world  under  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Samuel  J.  Mills  of 
Torrington,  Conn.,  who  originated  the  American  Missionary 
Society,  and  was  prominent  among  the  founders  of  the  Col- 
onizadon  Society,  and  Dr.  Judson  of  Massachusetts,  Mission- 
ary to  India,  showing  that  the  stone  cut  out  without  hands  is 
fulfilling  its  expansion,  and  its  weight  is  recognized  in  the 
extremities  of  the  earth.  They  were  born  respectively  in 
1783  and  1788,  near  the  date  of  the  formation  of  the  govern- 
ment, which  was  in  1787. 

We  have  spoken  of  a  few  only  of  the  remarkable  discov- 
eries of  modern  times,  but  they  are  innumerable.  There 
have  been  issued  from  the  Patent  Office  250,000  patents,  a 
vast  proportion  of  which  have  been  to  New  England,  and 
especially  Connecticut,  which  takes  the  lead  relatively.     In 


i85 

1 88 1  there  were  issued  to  the  people  in  this  State  693  patents, 
or  one  to  every  829  inhabitants,  while  in  North  Carolina  there 
were  64,  or  one  to  every  21,871  inhabitants;  South  Carolina 
45,  or  one  to  22,123;  Mississippi  41,  or  one  to  27,599.  No 
doubt  the  patents  issued  to  other  States  would  show  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  patentees  were  of  New  England 
origin,  especially  at  the  West,  the  population  of  which,  when 
not  immigrants  from  Europe,  generally  claims  New  England 
as  its  birthplace. 

In  speaking  of  the  influence  of  the  Puritan  faith  in  arousing 
a  benevolent  spirit,  we  should  not  in  this  connection  omit  men- 
tion of  the  many  saintly  men  who  once  sat  where  you  do  now, 
and  who  seem  to  demand  remembrance  by  you  on  this  joyful 
yet  solemn  occasion.  It  would  be  impossible  to  speak  of  all, 
but  I  will  recall  to  your  remembrance,  besides  the  founders 
of  that  most  beneficent  institution,  the  American  Asylum, 
the  present  of  the  Athaeneum  by  that  man,  small  of  stature 
but  large  of  heart,  Daniel  Wadsworth,  which  was  built  upon  a 
spot  consecrated  by  so  many  incidents  connected  with  the 
Revolution,  and  by  the  presence  of  the  illustrious  Washington, 
who  there  with  Lafayette  and  Rochambeau  devised  a  plan  for 
capturing  Cornwallis.  The  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  a  mother 
institution  of  that  kind,  was  largely  built  by  contributions  from 
this  church.  The  Farm  School,  Widow's  Home,  the  Hospital, 
mainly  built  through  the  munificence  of  David  Watkinson,  to 
whom  also  the  city  owes  the  princely  gift  of  the  library  of 
reference  ;  the  Warburton  Chapel,  the  gift  of  John  Warburton 
and  his  estimable  wife  ;  the  royal  bequest  of  ^700,000  to  Yale 
by  Henry  L.  Ellsworth,  though  failing  in  part,  yet  testified  to 
his  regard  for  learning.  The  splendid  endowment  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  by  James  B.  Hosmer,  gave  an  impulse 
to  that  institution  which  will  be  felt  by  the  latest  generations. 
These  are  some  of  the  largest  benefactors,  but  their  gifts  fall 
below  the  contributions  from  this  church  which  have  flowed  in 
a  perennial  stream  to  the  isles  of  the  sea,  a  shower  which  has 
made  many  a  wilderness  a  fruitful  field,  and  which  has  nerved 
a  vast  number  who  are  instilling  into  the  West  and  South 
2+ 


i86 

the  energy  and  spirit  of  New  England.  We  can  merely  hint 
at  these  devout  men  whose  works  have  not  only  gone  before 
them,  but  whose  example  has  left  an  ever  increasing  blessing 
behind. 

But  a  study  of  the  scriptures  and  of  the  Divine  workings 
in  the  natural  world,  shows  us  another  remarkable  fulfillment 
of  prophecy  in  the  new  earth.  When  this  development  of 
providence  was  to  take  place,  with  the  latent  moral,  commer- 
cial, mechanical,  scientific,  agricultural,  and  telluric  potential- 
ities connected  therewith,  one  element  more  was  wanting  to 
render  effective  these  mighty  agencies,  the  power  which  alone 
could  set  them  all  in  motion,  viz.,  money,  which  is  to  commerce 
as  steam  to  the  engine. 

This  was  so  evident  that  as  early  as  1846  it  was  confidently 
foretold,  owing  to  the  fulfillment  of  prophecies  and  the 
necessities  engendered  by  enormous  commercial  transac- 
tions, arising  from  the  use  of  steam  and  other  inventions, 
that  the  17th  verse  of  the  60th  chapter  of  Isaiah  would  soon 
receive  fulfillment.  "  For  brass  I  will  bring  gold,  and  for 
iron  I  will  bring  silver,  and  for  wood  brass,  and  for  stones 
iron:  and  1  will  also  make  thy  officers  peace  and  thy  exactors 
righteousness  ;"  and  the  very  places,  California  and  Austra- 
lia, were  designated  where  God  had  possibly  hidden  his 
treasures.  The  discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's  mill  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  opening  of  that  treasure  house,  which  first 
startled  the  country,  was  within  two  years  from  that  time 
announced  to  the  world  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  C.  S.  Lyman  of 
Yale,  a  Congregational  clergyman,  born  within  the  original 
limits  of  the  town  of  Hartford,  but  then  residing  for  his 
health  in  that  region.  Prof.  Lyman  is  of  Puritan  descent, 
and  the  ancestral  name  is  carved  on  the  monument  in  the 
cemetery  of  this  church.  These  discoveries  have  doubled 
the  amount  of  the  precious  metals  within  thirty-four  years. 
But  there  is  another  remarkable  circumstance  connected 
with  this,  viz. :  nearly  all  the  vast  treasures  of  gold,  silver, 
brass  (or  copper),  petroleum,  iron,  etc.,  lie  in  the  tract  which 
by  patent  or  charter  was  confirmed  to  New  England  ;  for  the 
limits  extended  from  the  40°  to  the  48"^  of  north  latitude, 


i87 

with  practical  control  from  34°  to  38°,  also,  and  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  taking  in  the  great  lakes  on 
the  north,  and  Maryland  on  the  south,  and  containing  within 
the  boundaries  most  of  the  oil  wells,  agricultural  and  mineral 
wealth  of  the  country.  The  limits  were  afterward  reduced 
to  the  first  figures.  The  foot  of  the  Pilgrim  was  to  transform 
the  desert  into  an  Eden,  for  thus  had  Isaiah  sung,  "The 
Lord  shall  comfort  Zion,  He  will  comfort  all  her  waste 
places,  He  will  make  her  wilderness  like  Eden,  and  her  desert 
like  the  garden  of  the  Lord."  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  notice 
that  God  has  also  greatly  prospered  Great  Britain  in  this 
respect;  thus  giving  his  especial  favors  to  the  two  nations 
serving  him  with  the  purest  faith. 

We  have  now  spoken  of  the  hberation  of  the  word  of  God 
and  the  opportunity  of  showing  its  power. 

From  that  moment  forces  were  at  work  which  assuredly 
would  eventuate  in  a  new  earth,  and  all  traceable  to  the 
entrance  of  truth  upon  a  new  era  and  under  happier  auspices, 
the  moral  atmosphere  was  cleared,  stars  in  scripture  figures 
and  hieroglyphics  put  for  kings  and  often  so  used  fell  from 
heaven,  or  seat  of  power,  old  governments  would  be  remodeled 
and  reformed;  new  conditions  replace  the  old,  and  all  things 
were  to  be  made  new.  The  subject  of  education,  lying  as  it 
does  at  the  foundation  of  all  prosperity  in  the  State,  could 
not  be  omitted  in  any  formal  treatise,  but  time  forbids  more 
than  the  briefest  allusion  thereto.  As  a  republican  form  of 
government  cannot  exist  long  without  intelligence  and  virtue, 
an  axiom  in  the  estimation  of  all  parties,  there  is  less  need  of 
enlarging  upon  the  subject.  But  in  passing  let  me  throw 
out  a  suggestion,  viz.,  that  it  is  possible  the  attempt  to  pro- 
duce homogeneousness  by  the  present  school  system,  though 
theoretically  practicable,  may  prove  inadequate  where  most 
necessary,  owing  to  the  hostility  of  a  great  religious  sect, 
nearly  equaling  the  united  members  of  all  Evangelical 
churches.  The  same  arguments  are  forcibly  used  as  against 
the  standing  order,  both  resting  upon  the  same  basis;  and  the 
same  opposition  is  encountered  and  likely  at  no  distant  day  to 


be  more  influential,  among  the  very  ones  most  needing  the 
vivifying  influences  of  a  New  England  education.  If  we  open 
our  eyes  we  cannot  avoid  seeing  the  effect  of  the  Puritan  and 
Congregational  idea  of  law,  liberty,  and  religion  as  developed 
in  the  body  politic,  and  as  manifested  in  national  characteris- 
tics. It  is  seen  in  the  intelligence  and  high  moral  tone  of  the 
people,  in  their  rapid  expansion,  their  unbounded  energy,  their 
inventive  genius,  their  obedience  to  authority,  their  universal 
sympathy  with  the  oppressed  and  suffering,  whether  by  the 
tyranny  of  man,  or  providence  of  God ;  their  love  of  learn- 
ing and  the  arts  of  peace ;  and  above  all  in  regard  for  right. 
We  have  noted  a  few  results,  since  in  the  shades  of  night 
Brewster  and  Bradford,  in  the  secret  chambers  of  Braintree 
and  Scrooby,  devised  measures  to  emancipate  themselves  and 
religion  from  the  merciless  tyrant  Archbishop  Laud  and  the 
English  King.  Since  that  time  there  has  been  a  vast 
increase  not  only  in  Congregational  churches,  but  in  many 
other  denominations,  which,  springing  into  life  from  the  same 
impelling  causes  and  partaking  of  the  same  spirit,  have  aided 
greatly  in  making  this  a  Christian  nation.  Indeed,  while  one 
hundred  years  ago  Congregationalists  comprised  the  great 
body  of  Evangelical  churches,  they  are  at  present  numerically 
surpassed  by  several  other  denominations.  But  we  claim  for 
the  Congregationalism  of  the  Puritans  most  that  is  efficient  in 
other  sects,  even  in  the  Episcopal,  since  the  example  of  the 
former  was  eminently  contagious  and  what  there  was  of 
spirituality  in  the  latter  was  owing  to  the  active  exercise  of 
the  Puritan  element,  which  had  not  utterly  forsaken  the 
Church  of  England  on  the  departure  of  the  Separatists.  The 
number  of  Congregationalists  in  1881  was  383,685,  while 
of  Baptists  there  are  2,394,472  communicants.  Of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  (North)  1,680,779;  (South),  828,013; 
of  Romanists,  6,174,202  ;  Presbyterians  693,347. 

Now  there  must  be  some  great  cause  for  the  increase  of 
Congregationalism  being  relatively  so  slow,  for  as  Dr.  Patton 
says,  "If  religion  had  been  only  brain  work  we  should  have 
led  all  the  denominations." 


1 89 

The  causes  of  the  slow  growth  of  Congregationalism  are, 
1st.  The  half  way  Covenant,  so  called.  2d.  The  unyielding 
position  of  the  clergy  as  respects  the  standing  order.  3d. 
Making  no  attempt  at  proselytism  ;  not  objecting  to  its 
members  uniting  with  other  denominations,  especially  the 
Presbyterian.  4th,  The  question  of  slavery.  5th.  The  high 
culture  demanded  of  the  clergy  and  the  revolt  of  democracy, 
which  brooks  no  claim  to  superiority,  whether  mental,  moral, 
social,  or  political.  6th.  The  discourses  not  best  adapted  to 
the  capacities  and  wants  of  the  people. 

From  want  of  time  we  shall  omit  speaking  upon  these 
causes  except  the  last.  I  hope  my  clerical  friends  will  not 
think  the  remarks  of  the  writer  intrusive  on  their  territory, 
but  rather  the  suggestion  of  a  patient  to  his  learned  physi- 
cians, of  whose  remedies  he  has  had  much  personal  experience. 
He  with  due  humility  applies  to  himself  the  remark  made  by 
President  Stiles  in  this  pulpit  exactly  one  hundred  years  ago 
while  addressing  Gov.  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  Legislature, 
and  the  clergy:  Trcrrwj'  rcijv  dy'iwv  eAaxiirori^poi  F/M-vizTorn-oiv., 

The  sixth  reason  is,  people  are  becoming  less  Calvinistic 
and  more  Arminian  in  their  way  of  thinking.  There  seems, 
unwittingly,  to  have  been  a  tendency  to  the  cultivation  of  a 
legal  spirit,  a  fear  of  making  grace  too  free,  a  dread  of  the 
low  standard  of  obedience  held  by  the  Church  of  England, 
whose  head  wrote  a  book  of  sports  suited  for  Sunday.  This 
terror  of  the  law  may  have  originated  in  the  constant  contem- 
plation of  their  model,  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  but  once 
fixed  it  became  hereditary  in  the  church.  This  style  of  dis- 
course, no  doubt,  had  advantages  at  that  day,  wanting  at  the 
present  time.  But  whatever  the  cause,  their  sermons,  though 
scholarly  and  orthodox,  were  dry,  and  did  not  engage  the 
hearts  of  their  hearers,  nor  do  they  seem  to  me  always  with 
clearness  and  assurance  to  have  proclaimed  the  complete- 
ness, and  all-sufficiency  of  the  Atonement.  The  clouds 
which  overhung  Sinai,  also  shadowed  Calvary,  and  the  expir- 
ing but  triumphant  words,  "It  is  finished,"  were  but  faintly 
heard  by  those  trembling  under  the  trumpets  of  the  fiery 


mount.  The  attributes  of  God  as  Sovereign,  were  more 
vigorously  presented  than  the  admirable  and  transcendent 
provision  for  abundant  pardon,  as  revealed  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, so  that  the  kiss  of  "righteousness  and  peace"  seemed 
rather  a  matter  of  ceremony  than  affection.  By  the  glare  of 
Sinai's  lightnings,  God  reveals  the  Judge,  establishing 
authority,  rather  than  illustrating  mercy.  Law  rather  than 
love  was  the  motive  power.  The  fact  is,  men  are  miniatures 
of  the  God  they  worship.  The  character  of  Moloch  was  well 
reflected  in  the  Canaanite,  who  immolated  in  the  monster's 
brazen  arms  the  innocent  babe.  A  deity  all  mercy,  and  with 
no  hatred  of  sin,  or  one  forgiving  by  priestly  manipulation, 
with  no  change  of  heart,  or  reformation  of  life,  will  have  a 
constituency  regardless  of  sin,  and  unworthy  of  trust.  The 
God  of  the  Puritan  was  feebly  photographed  in  the  Puritan 
church.  To  that,  he  was  holy,  and  could  not  look  on  sin 
without  abhorrence  ;  severe  to  mark  iniquity,  just,  and  whose 
wrath  was  feared  more  than  his  love  attracted. 

Thus,  the  Puritan  reflected  a  similar  character — shunning 
every  legal  lapse  with  holy  fear ;  severe  to  himself,  if  kind  to 
others;  just,  if  not  always  merciful;  to  whom  duty,  taking 
precedence  of  love,  was  the  cardinal  virtue;  to  whom  a  lie 
was  not  only  a  sin,  but  a  crime  amenable  to  law;  to  whom  the 
day  of  rest  was  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jew ;  stern  in  dealing 
with  transgressors ;  yet  alway  a  man  to  be  relied  on  in  every 
business  or  situation  ;  working  diligently  and  conscientiously 
in  the  fulfillment  of  every  obligation  to  God  or  man;  and 
with  a  morality  severe,  even  to  austerity. 

Now,  as  these  ideas  must  have,  in  part  at  least,  been 
derived  from  the  clergy,  their  preaching  undoubtedly  tinged 
the  Puritan  faith.  This  was  inevitable.  Judging  of  the 
impressions  on  others  by  that  made  on  myself  by  many  years 
of  pulpit  instruction,  I  cannot  but  think  there  was  obscurity 
in  presenting  the  grounds  of  salvation.  The  "  open  door  " 
seemed  but  a  gate  ajar,  and  grace  the  hard-earned  compen- 
sation of  good  resolves,  pungent  sorrow,  scrupulous  obedi- 
ence ;  and  the  yoke  of  Christ  an  additional  burthen  to  the 


191 

law ;  that  salvation  was  yea  and  nay,  not  yea  and  amen  ;  that 
success  was  by  no  means  assured  to  the  most  penitent  and 
earnest.  I  do  not  say  this  doctrine  was  preached  ;  but  as  the 
natural  tendency  of  men  is  to  rely  on  personal  merit,  at  least 
as  supplemental,  tJiat  error  was  not  sufficiently  guarded 
against.  It  was  many  years  before  it  was  given  me  to  learn, 
from  an  unexpected  quarter,  the  divine  glory  in  a  Saviour 
adapted  to  every  want ;  that  He  was  a  free  and  unspeakable 
gift,  needing  no  supplemental  works  to  render  effectual  His 
all-sufficient  atonement.  The  theology  I  had  before  learned, 
was  that  sanctification  was  a  necessary  precedent  of  jus- 
tification. These  statements  are  illustrated  by  the  history 
of  that  most  excellent  man,  John  Wareham,  who  came 
to  Windsor  with  the  party  of  Henry  Wolcott,  and  was 
their  first  and  well  beloved  pastor,  who,  history  asserts, 
was  always  so  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  unworthiness  and 
his  lost  condition  by  nature  and  legal  obstacles,  that  he 
scarcely  dared  partake  of  the  communion  and  went  sorrow- 
ing all  his  days.  His  staunch  Calvinism  still  held  him  in 
the  grasp  of  original  sin.  The  great  revival  under  Edwards 
(1740)  according  to  his  own  account,  presented  many  terrible 
examples  of  the  effect  of  these  somber,  if  not  distorted, 
views  of  the  relations  of  law  to  grace,  and  even  leading  to 
suicide.  But  we  need  not  seek  the  records  of  antiquity  for 
examples.  I  say  this  as  no  reproach  to  revivals  ;  they  are  a 
blessed  provision  for  the  exhibition  of  the  sovereignty  and 
mercy  of  God ;  but  there  must  have  been  something  cloudy 
in  the  presentation  of  the  best  news  man  ever  received, 
while  the  heart  was  longing  for  its  reception,  and  yet  could 
not  understand.  The  crowded  rink,  five  years  ago,  testified 
in  an  unmistakable  manner,  not  so  much  to  the  learning  and 
oratory  of  the  men  mighty  in  Scripture,  and  who  three  times 
a  day  for  months  filled  the  largest  building  in  the  city  to 
overflowing,  as  to  the  longing  men  have  to  know  God's  way 
of  saving  the  soul,  and  to  hear  the  news  in  a  manner  all 
could  comprehend. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  influence  of  the  clergy  and 


192 

of  the  Congregational  principle  upon  the  State  aside  from  the 
church.  It  is  certain,  Congregationalism  greatly  favored 
patriotism.  The  clergy  and  church  members  were  to  a  man 
strong  Federalists,  and  went  in  heartily  for  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence, while  Episcopalians  were  as  exclusively  Tories. 
It  is  believed  Jefferson  obtained  his  ideas  of  State  organiza- 
tion from  the  polity  of  the  Baptist  Church,  an  eminently 
Congregational  order,  and  thus  he  was  prepared  to  aid  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  in 
which  he  was  ably  supported  by  the  statesmen  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  eminently  so  of  Connecticut.  The  story  of  New 
England  love  of  country  is  told  when  we  learn  that  this 
State  furnished  32,000  men  for  the  regular  army  in  the 
revolutionary  war,  besides  defending  her  own  borders  at  her 
own  expense,  a  number  equal  to  the  whole  male  population 
capable  of  bearing  arms.  At  one  time  Connecticut  troops 
formed  one-half  of  the  regular  army.  A  complete  history 
of  the  military  service  of  members  of  this  society  from  its 
organization  would  make  a  volume  of  very  great  interest,  a 
glorious  appendix  to  an  extraordinary  record,  beginning  with 
the  storming  of  the  Pequot  fort  defended  by  600  warriors  of 
the  fiercest  tribe  in  New  England,  by  'j'j  men,  one-half  of 
whom  were  from  this  Society,  embracing  one-half  the  military 
force  of  the  three  towns  which  at  a  later  day  formed  Con- 
necticut, and  ending  with  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  in  which 
twenty-nine  members  of  this  society  were  engaged,  of  whom 
six  fell  in  battle  or  died  from  diseases  incident  to  the 
camp,  three  of  whom  were  sons  of  officers  of  the  church, 
two  being  sons  of  Deacon  Weld,  and  one  a  son  of  Deacon 
W.  W,  House,  and  to  these  we  may  add  the  knightly  soldier, 
Major  Camp,  educated  in  this  church,  who  also  fell  in  battle. 
We  have  now  endeavored  to  show  how  the  prophecies  of 
a  new  earth  have  their  fulfillment,  typically,  in  the  develop- 
ments of  this  favored  age  and  land  ;  foreshadowing  the  more 
glorious  state,  when  Christ  shall  assume  by  his  own  right 
the  kingdom  offered  him  by  the  prince  of  this  world,  1800 
years  ago,  and  which  the  usurper  has  firmly  held  during  the 


193 

ages  past.  We  cannot  trust  to  the  wisdom  of  unregenerate 
men  for  the  preservation  of  the  institutions  of  our  fathers, 
our  Hberties,  or  the  continuance  of  our  favored  condition  ; 
the  majority  governs,  and  as  yet  is  apparently  not  the  will- 
ing servant  of  the  Almighty.  All  hope  rests  in  the  assured 
promises  of  the  God  of  our  fathers.  The  usurper  has  not 
abandoned  his  claim,  and  it  does  not  require  an  ear  of  pecul- 
iar sensitiveness  to  detect  the  mutterings  of  coming  storms, 
and  the  quarter  from  which  they  will  burst ;  but  while  "  sus- 
tinet"  follows  "transtulit"  on  the  banner  of  our  State,  and 
the  eagle  on  the  national  standard  recalls  the  vision  of  St. 
John,  and  the  ever-protecting  wing  of  the  Providence  of 
God,  we  may  be  assured  his  plans  of  beneficence  will  move 
steadily  and  sublimely  on  to  accomplishment.  Nor  will  he 
suffer  that  vine  to  be  plucked  up  which  his  own  right  hand 
planted,  blessed  as  it  has  been,  by  the  incense  of  "  fervent 
and  effectual  prayer,"  watered  abundantly  with  the  tears  of 
exiles  and  of  martyrs,  and  most  richly  fertilized  by  the  blood 
of  their  sons,  though  the  wall  built  around  it  with  solicitude 
by  the  Pilgrims  has  crumbled  in  many  a  place,  and  "  the 
wild  beast  of  the  field"  (the  wolves  of  the  commune)  prowl 
around,  and  "  the  boar  from  the  woods  "  of  Italy's  deadly 
Avernus,  even  now,  burrows  under  the  foundations  thereof. 


SOCIAL  AND  DOMESTIC  LIFE  IN  EARLY  TIMES. 

BY    MRS.    LUCIUS    CURTIS. 

The  social  and  domestic  life  of  any  people  is,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  hidden  from  the  public  eye.  It  falls  into 
the  shadow  of  their  religious  and  political  life.  Important 
as  it  is,  and  eager  as  we  are  to  look  into  the  home  life  of  the 
early  days  of  our  ancestors  to  see  their  daily  occupations 
and  the  interplay  of  family  affection,  much  must  be  pictured 
by   our  imagination  from  the  slender   resources   of  a  few 

25 


194 

records.  In  respect  to  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  many 
affirm  that  they  had  no  social  life,  but  only  religious  convic- 
tions and  the  single  purpose  to  save  their  souls.  But  we 
might  expect,  according  to  the  promise  of  our  Saviour,  that  in 
seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God  other  good  things  will  be 
added  to  them.  It  may  be  well  to  take  a  backward  glance 
at  some  of  the  events  of  the  years  of  preparation  for  the 
founding  of  a  new  State.  The  tree  which  for  a  thousand 
years  had  grown  on  the  soil  of  England,  rooted  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  and  cultured  by  Christianity,  was  to  shed  its 
fruits  on  a  soil  far  remote  from  its  beginning.  Perhaps  in  a 
greater  degree  than  the  common  mind  perceives,  manners  and 
customs  are  affected  by  public  events.  As  we  turn  the  pages 
of  the  history  of  these  many  years,  the  years  of  war  between 
king  and  nobles,  of  strife  for  supremacy  between  England 
and  France,  when  the  Church  itself  was  seeking  for  the 
glory  of  the  world,  we  get  few  glimpses  of  joyous  domestic 
life.  Anarchy  and  ignorance  were  foes  to  the  peace  of  home. 
There  had  been  little  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
rural  population  since  the  Romans  left  the  island.  Tillage 
of  the  land  was  poor,  famine  and  pestilence  held  sway,  and 
even  the  ecclesiastics  lived  in  coarse  luxury.  The  darkness 
deepened  into  night,  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. But  just  at  this  time,  the  dawn  began  to  appear.  The 
invention  of  printing,  the  discovery  of  America,  and  the 
mightv  work  of  Luther,  which  brought  light  from  Heaven  to 
the  humblest  in  condition,  made  a  new  civilization  possible. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  the  last 
years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  who  died  in  1603,  the  methods 
of  agriculture  had  improved,  the  farmers  had  an  abundance 
of  good  food,  and  lived  in  better  houses,  English  commerce 
developed  rapidly.  "  London  became  a  great  city,  where  the 
gold  and  sugar  of  the  new  world  were  found  side  by  side 
with  the  cotton  of  India,  the  silk  of  the  east,  and  the  woolen 
stuffs  of  England.  The  feudal  castle  had  given  way  to  the 
home  with  its  chimney  corner,  its  tapestried  parlor,  its 
quaintly  carved  chairs  and  cabinets,  its  silver  plate.     There 


195 

came  at  this  time  a  mighty  impulse  to  literature ;  it  was  the 
age  of  Spenser  and  Shakespeare.  The  whole  prose  litera- 
ture of  England  had  grown  up,  since  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  by  Tyndale  and  Coverdale." 

A  leading  writer  has  said,  "  We  must  not  picture  the  early 
Puritan  as  a  gloomy  fanatic.  The  country  gentleman  studied 
theology,  but  he  might  have  known  something  of  literature, 
Milton's  father,  business  man  as  he  was,  composed  madrigals 
and  sacred  songs.  In  Milton  himself  (born  in  1608)  we  see 
the  completest  type  of  Puritanism.  There  was  nothing 
narrow  or  illiberal  in  his  training.     He  could  write  of — 

Sweetest  Shakespere,  Fancy's  child, 
Warbling  his  native  wood  notes  wild. 

He  could  revel  in  the  "  dim  religious  light "  of  the  great 
cathedral  as  he  hears — 

The  pealing  organ  blow 

To  the  full-voiced  choir  below 

In  service  high  and  anthem  clear. 

There  was  nothing  ascetic  in  his  look — with  his  long  brown 
hair.  He  could  have  stood  for  a  knight  in  chivalrous  times. 
When  we  meet  Robinson  and  Bradford  in  Leyden  we  find 
them  honored,  wise,  and  accomplished  men.  Robinson  was 
sought  as  an  aid  by  the  professors  in  the  university ;  Brewster 
was  teaching  English  (as  he  said  after  the  Latin  manner), 
having  learned  Latin  in  England.  When  they  landed  at 
Plymouth  it  was  with  the  idea  of  an  English  home  in  their 
minds  that  they  sought  to  subdue  the  wilderness.  As  they 
looked  out  in  the  spring  upon  the  new  scene,  when  warm 
and  fair  weather  came,  and  the  birds  sang  in  the  woods 
"most  pleasantly,"  they  were  reminded  that  it  was  not  an 
English  landscape  that  they  saw.  There  was  a  glow  in  the 
sunset  sky  far  more  gorgeous  than  that  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed.  Close  at  their  feet,  on  the  edges  of  the 
woods,  the  trailing  arbutus  gave  out  its  fragrance.  As  the 
season  advanced  they  could  see  in  profusion  the  wild  rose, 
seeming  to  choose  the  rocky  coast  for  its  home.  The  gloom 
of  the  dense  woods  was  lighted  up  with  the  bright  flush  of 
the  azalea  and  the  laurel ;  the  summer  died  in  the  glory  of 


196 

the  golden  rod  and  cardinal  flower;  and  the  autumn  leaves 
of  bush  and  tree  were  aglow  with  splendor.  The  first 
summer  of  planting  was  well  rewarded,  and  they  had  ample 
supplies  of  fish,  wild  turkey,  and  venison ;  and  their  first 
Thanksgiving  was  celebrated.  On  that  occasion  of  hilarity, 
"  they  exercised  their  arms,  and  for  three  days  entertained 
Massasoit  and  ninety  of  his  people,  who  made  a  contribution 
of  five  deer  to  the  festivity."  Dark  days  of  sickness  and 
famine  were  to  come,  when,  as  they  said,  "the  best  thing  we 
could  present  to  the  sick  was  a  lobster  or  a  piece  of  fish 
without  any  bread,  or  anything  else  but  a  cup  of  fair  spring 
water."  In  the  simple  life  of  those  early  days,  there  was 
opportunity  for  "  plain  living  and  high  thinking."  Though 
there  were  servants  to  do  the  menial  work,  the  governor  and 
the  elder  must  often  have  turned  their  hands  to  humble 
employments.  The  Indian  corn  which  they  had  to  substitute 
for  the  wheat  of  England,  was  used  for  money  and  for  nutri- 
ment. Learning  from  the  Indians  its  various  uses,  and  its 
method  of  culture,  it  became  to  them  the  stay  and  staff  of 
bread.  Having  no  mill,  the  corn  must  be  pounded  in  a 
mortar ;  many  days  must  have  been  spent  in  fishing,  but 
they  could  know  that  this  was  the  Apostles'  own  calling,  and 
as  they  said,  "  God  fed  them  out  of  the  sea  for  the  most  part." 
It  was  not  without  reason,  that  the  head  of  the  house  in  later 
days,  at  the  annual  Thanksgiving,  with  his  eight  children 
around  the  table,  remembering  the  Indian  corn,  the  food  in 
the  wilderness,  would  say  to  his  household :  "  Of  all  other 
things  on  the  table  you  may  eat,  but  of  this,  the  Indian 
pudding,  you  must  eat."  It  was  to  be  a  remembrance,  like  the 
pot  of  manna  laid  up  in  the  tabernacle.  The  same  homely 
dish  could  inspire  Joel  Barlow,  far  away  from  home : 

"  Ye  Alps  audacious,  I  sing  not  you, 
A  softer  theme  I  choose,  the  hasty  pudding. 
Could  these  mild  morsels  in  my  numbers  chime. 
And  as  they  roll  in  substance,  roll  in  rhyme, 
No  more  thy  awkward  unpoetic  name 
Should  shun  the  muse,  or  prejudice  thy  fame, 
But  rising  grateful  to  the  accustomed  ear, 
All  lands  should  catchpt,  and  allfrealms^^revere." 


197 

Five  years  after  the  planting  of  the  colony,  the  chronicler 
relates  :  "  It  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  give  this  plantation 
peace  and  health,  and  so  to  bless  their  labors,  as  they  had 
corn  sufficient,  and  some  to  spare  for  others ; "  and  in  the 
seventh  year  we  have  the  report  of  a  visitor  from  the  Dutch 
settlement  of  New  Amsterdam,  in  which  he  gives  a  glowing 
account  of  the  order  and  comfort  of  the  little  community  ;  of 
their  kind  treatment  of  the  Indians  ;  of  the  dignity  of  their 
worship.  Governor  Bradford  himself  said  in  a  poem  on  New 
England  (every  one  in  those  days  wrote  verses)  : 

All  sorts  of  grain,  which  our  own  land  doth 'yield 
Was  hither  brought  and  sown  in  every  field. 
Here  grow  fine  flowers  many,  and  'mongst  those 
The  fair  white  lily  and  the  fragrant  rose, 
Pears,  apples,  cherries,  plums,  quinces,  and  peach. 
Are  now  no  dainties  ;  you  may  have  of  each. 

We  have  the  portrait  of  only  one  of  the  Mayflower  com- 
pany;  that  of  Edward  Winslow,  taken  in  London  in  165 1, 
as  is  supposed  by  Vandyke  ;  and  of  the  hundreds  of  volumes 
of  Brewster's  library,  but  few  can  be  identified.  We  should 
think  in  these  days  that  the  good  Elder  was  dressed  in  fancy 
costume.  In  his  inventory,  we  read  of  a  blue  cloth  coat,  one 
violet  color  cloth  coat,  and  one  green  waistcoat. 

It  was  customary  for  the  women  of  our  primitive  colonists 
to  wear  beaver  and  other  hats,  with  a  feather,  and  their 
example  was  long  imitated  by  their  daughters.  It  is  said 
that  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  present  century,  for  some 
reason  they  were  not  in  use ;  women  began  then  "  to  draw 
the  line  at  feathers."  Roger  Williams  at  one  time  argued 
from  the  scripture  that  women  should  not  appear  in  the 
public  assembly  without  veils,  but  it  was  without  effect,  and 
as  early  as  1647,  Nathaniel  Ward  tells  us  that  there  were 
"  five  or  six  women  in  the  colony,"  whose  hearts  were  drawn 
after  the  fashions ;  they  enquire,  "  what  dress  the  queen  is 
in  this  week."  The  same  spirit  appeared  many  years  after, 
upon  one  of  our  Connecticut  hills,  A  young,  fair  woman 
had  come  to  be  the  bride  of  the  minister  in  a  country  parish. 
The  good  deacon,  who  called  upon  her  at  once, ,  said  "  he 


198 

hoped  she  would  not  be  a  setter  forth  of  the  fashions." 
Early  Monday  morning  the  same  deacon's  daughter  came 
upon  her  side  saddle  to  get  the  pattern  of  the  riding  habit 
which  the  young  wife  had  worn  to  church  the  day  before. 
The  clothing  of  the  early  time  must  have  been  brought  from 
England,  and  would  naturally  be  such  as  was  in  use  there. 
We  are  told  that  Pocahontas  was  married  in  Indian  muslin, 
with  a  fillet  of  feathers  and  a  veil  of  gauze  upon  her  head  ; 
perhaps  the  gift  of  her  father's  friend,  Captain  John  Smith. 
In  the  succeeding  emigration,  from  1630  and  after,  there 
came  over  many  country  gentlemen  of  no  inconsiderable 
fortune.  Among  them  were  Winthrop,  who  had  a  property 
of  six  or  seven  hundred  pounds  a  year;  Humphrey,  son-in-law 
of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  ;  Isaac  Johnson,  one  of  the  richest  of 
the  emigrants,  and  his  lovely  wife,  the  lady  Arabella,  who 
"  came  from  a  paradise  of  plenty  into  a  wilderness  of  wants  ;  " 
Theophilus  Eaton,  an  eminent  London  tradesman ;  Edward 
Hopkins,  the  governor  of  the  Connecticut  colony,  whose 
descent  and  breeding.  Cotton  Mather  tells  us,  fitted  him  to  be 
a  "  Turkey  merchant,"  and  many  others.  There  were  more 
than  a  hundred  university  graduates,  some  of  whom  had  been 
classmates  with  Jeremy  Taylor,  George  Herbert,  and  Milton. 
They  brought  with  them  "deferential  manners,  official  stateli- 
ness,  distinguishing  apparel,  with  stififness  and  elaborate  eti- 
quette," and  they  brought  an  isolated  community  on  the  edge 
of  a  wilderness  into  relations  with  the  world.*  In  1633  the 
poems  of  the  saintly  George  Herbert  (with  whom  President 
Chauncey  had  been  a  fellow  at  Trinity)  were  published,  and 
it  is  supposed  that  his  emigration,  and  that  of  Cotton  and 
other  eminent  ministers  suggested  those  well  known  lines : 

"  Religion  stands  on  tip-toe  in  our  land, 
Ready  to  pass  to  the  American  strand." 

In  the  inventories  at  the  death  of  some  of  the  ministers, 
articles  of  luxury  are  noted,  as  in  the  will  of  Thomas  Shepard, 

*  Cotton  Mather  said  years  after,  that  Roojer  Williams  "  had  a  wind- 
mill in  his  head."  Perhaps  it  was  necessary  as  a  means  of  blowing 
away  some  of  the  chaff  of  routine  and  custom. 


199 

1649  '•  "  To  my  son  Thomas  my  best  silver  tankard,  my  best 
best  black  suit  and  cloak."  To  another  son  "  one  of  my  long 
silver  bowls;"  to  a  friend  "  my  velvet  cloak."  In  that  of  the 
Rev.  N.  Rogers  of  Ipswich,  1658,  a  watch,  answering  as  a 
clock,  and  a  rich  "canopy  bed."  Winthrop  could  entertain 
guests  in  the  large  hall  of  his  house  with  stately  politeness, 
and  he  notes  "  upon  consideration  of  the  inconveniences 
which  had  grown  in  England  by  drinking  one  to  another  he 
restrained  it  at  his  own  table,  and  wished  others  to  do  so,  so 
it  grew  little  by  little  into  disuse."  The  pictures  of  some  of 
these  men  which  can  be  seen  to-day, — Winslow  with  his  gen- 
tle face,  his  starched  ruff,  Winthrop  with  his  delicate  features, 
and  his  long  brown  hair  and  full  beard,  and  his  plaited  ruffles, 
Charles  Chauncey  (born  in  1599,)  with  his  long,  flowing  grey 
wig,  his  bands,  and  olive  green  robe,  do  not  look  like  the  grim 
Puritans  we  supposed  them  to  be.  They  had  not  yet  come 
under  the  oppressive  severity  of  toil,  which  benumbs  the 
power  of  emotion.  Their  high  resolve  which  led  them  to 
abandon  the  ease  of  a  settled  habitation,  must  have  given 
something  of  nobility  to  their  aspect. 

On  the  voyage  of  the  Arabella,  we  are  told  how  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  children  was  provided  for.  "  Our  children  and 
others  that  were  sick  and  lay  groaning  in  our  cabins  we 
fetched  out,  and  having  stretched  a  rope  from  the  steerage 
to  the  mainmast,  we  made  them  stand,  some  on  one  side,  and 
some  on  the  other,  and  swing  it  up  and  down  till  they  were 
weary,  and  by  this  means  they  soon  grew  well  and  merry." 
It  seems  like  a  fish  story  indeed,  when  the  same  chronicle 
tells  us  that  when  near  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  in  less  than  two 
hours,  with  a  few  hooks  they  took  sixty-seven  codfish,  some 
a  yard  and  a  half  long,  and  a  j/ard  in  compass.  The  moon 
seemed  smaller  to  them  than  when  in  England,  which  was 
remarkable  for  this  "great  country."  We  have  a  good 
example  of  the  "  large  stories,"  even  of  that  early  day.  A 
skipper  had  appeared  from  Maine,  at  an  English  port,  with 
cargoes  in  three  successive  years  respectively,  in  a  schooner, 
a  brig,  and  finally  a  large  ship.     On  being  rallied  about  the 


200 

rapid  increase  of  his  vessel,  as  if  it  had  grown  while  crossing 
the  sea,  he  repHed,  that  "  they  built  ship-stuff  in  lengths  and 
sawed  sections  of  it  off  at  pleasure,  according  to  the  voyage." 
We  are  glad  to  know  what  the  travelers  in  the  Arabella  had 
to  eat  after  their  tedious  voyage.  On  landing  at  Salem, 
"  they  supplied  us  a  good  venison  pasty,  and  good  beer.  In 
the  morning  the  rest  of  our  people  went  on  shore,  off  Cape 
Ann,  to  gather  a  store  of  strawberries."  (A  later  traveler 
tells  us  that  he  saw  in  Boston  strawberries  two  inches  about ; 
cultivated  ones,  we  suppose.) 

We  have  an  account  of  an  official  visit  of  the  authorities, 
civil,  military,  and  ecclesiastic,  to  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  in 
1632.  Brewster  and  Bradford  came  to  meet  them.  They 
were  feasted  every  day  at  the  several  houses.  On  the  Lord's 
day  there  was  a  sacrament,  and  in  the  afternoon  Roger  Wil- 
liams propounded  a  question — several  spoke.  When  this  was 
ended,  the  deacon,  Mr.  Fuller,  put  the  congregation  in  mind 
of  the  duty  of  contribution,  whereupon  the  governor  and  all 
the  rest  went  down  to  the  deacon's  seat  and  put  into  the 
box,  and- then  returned. 

The  "fame  of  the  pleasant  lands"  of  Connecticut  had 
early  reached  England.  Its  leading  towns.  New  Haven  and 
Hartford,  were  settled  by  some  of  the  richest  and  best  of  the 
colonies,  and  as  it  grew  steadily  in  numbers  and  wealth  it 
soon  acquired  the  name  of  the  land  of  "  steady  habits."  In 
the  planting  of  towns,  we  find  some  notes  of  the  quaint 
simplicity  of  the  time.  Of  one  minister,  it  was  said,  "  with 
the  youth  he  took  great  pains,  and  he  was  a  tree  of  knowl- 
edge with  fruit  which  the  children  could  reach."  An  inhabi- 
tant of  Ipswich,  living  at  a  distance,  absented  himself,  with 
his  wife,  from  public  worship.  The  General  Court  empowered 
the  selectmen  to  sell  the  farm,  so  that  they  might  live  nearer  to 
the  sanctuary,  and  be  able  more  conveniently  to  attend  upon 
its  religious  services.  In  1670  constables  were  instructed  to 
prevent  young  persons  from  being  out  late  in  the  evening, 
especially  Sabbath,  lecture,  and  training  day  evenings.  The 
boys  were  closely  watched  at  church.     An  inhabitant  of  one 


20I 

town  was  complained  of,  because  he  had  a  servant  many 
years  and  had  not  taught  him  to  read.  The  fire-places,  says 
one,  were  large  enough  to  admit  a  four-foot  log,  and  the 
children  might  sit  in  the  corners  and  look  up  at  the  stars. 
Let  no  one,  says  another,  make  a  jest  of  pumpkins,  for  with 
this  food  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  feed  his  people  to  their 
good  content,  ere  corn  and  cattle  were  increased. 

'Stead  of  pottage  and  puddings,  and  custards  and  pies, 
Our  turnips  and  parsnips  are  common  supplies  ; 
We  have  pumpkins  at  morn,  and  pumpkins  at  noon, 
If  it  was  not  for  pumpkins  we  should  be  undone. 

In  a  book  published  in  London  in  1643,  New  England's 
First  Fruits,  the  colonists  say:  "We  have  planted  fifty 
towns  and  villages,  built  thirty  or  forty  churches,  and  more 
ministers'  houses,  a  castle,  a  college,  prisons,  forts,  coastways, 
and  causeways  many,  no  pubhc  hand  reaching  out  any  help ; 
having  comfortable  houses,  gardens,  orchards,  grounds,  fenced 
cornfields,  etc."  The  ordinary  dress  of  the  time  was  more 
picturesque  than  in  our  own  day.  The  color  of  the  doublet 
universally  worn  by  men  was  often  red.  Beneath  the  doublet 
was  worn  the  waistcoat,  which  in  the  poorer  classes  was  of 
cotton,  in  the  richer  was  frequently  of  silk  and  much  elabo- 
rated. The  sleeves  were  slashed  for  the  purpose  of  displaying 
the  linen  below.  The  bands  of  the  working  men  and  the 
ruffs  of  the  gentry  were  starched  to  extreme  stiffness.  The 
outermost  covering  of  all  was  the  cloak.  As  early  as  1634 
there  was  legislation  against  "  slashed  apparel,  immoderate 
great  sleeves,  long  wigs,  gold,  silver,  or  thread  lace,  knots  of 
ribbon,  double  ruffs  and  cuffs,"  reasoning  that  such  super- 
fluities tended  to  "  the  nourishing  of  pride  and  exhausting 
men's  estate,  and  of  evil  example."  Such  legislation  was  not 
new.  In  the  reign  of  Mary,  the  law  had  regulated  the  size 
of  the  shoe  at  the  toe.  But  it  was  in  vain,  for  the  peaks  of 
the  shoes  had  grown  so  large  that  "  men  could  hardly  kneel 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord,"  The  authorities  were  foiled  in 
their  attempts  to  prevent  women  from  arranging  their  sleeves 
in  the  most  captivating  manner.  In  165 1,  the  General  Court 
26 


202 

ordered  that  if  a  man  was  not  worth  two  hundred  pounds,  he 
should  not  wear  gold  or  silver  lace  or  buttons,  and  because  of 
the  scarcity  of  leather,  should  not  walk  in  great  boots.  These 
laws  were  soon  repealed,  and  it  is  believed  that  they  sprung 
not  so  much  from  unworldliness,  as  from  a  desire  to  check 
the  rising  independence  which  asserted  itself  in  the  dress  of 
the  poorer  classes  ;  and  the  expense  which  they  incurred 
prevented  them  from  contributing  to  the  public  good. 

Winthrop's  little  bark,  the  "  Blessing  of  the  Bay,"  another, 
the  "White  Angel,"  and  the  "Trial"  the  first  ship  built  at  Bos- 
ton, were  the  precursors  of  the  shipping  of  the  future,  which 
were  to  bring  the  products  of  the  West  Indies  and  the  con- 
tents of  the  shops  of  London  to  the  homes  of  the  New 
World. 

Haste  and  necessity  had  made  plain  houses  the  rule  at 
first,  and  those  who  had  wealth  were  advised  to  abstain  from 
all  superfluous  expense  and  to  reserve  their  money  for  the 
public  use.  The  New  Haven  people  were  thought  to  have 
laid  out  too  much  of  their  stock  and  estates  in  building  fair 
and  stately  4iouses.  Allerton,  who  went  among  them  from 
Plymouth,  built  a  "  grand  house  "  upon  the  creek.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Whitefield's  house,  built  at  Guilford  in  1639,  is  said  to  be 
the  oldest  house  in  the  United  States  now  standing  as  origin- 
ally built. 

At  the  time  of  Winthrop's  death,  1649,  a  traveler  was 
already  speaking  of  Boston,  as  a  city-like  town,  and  calling 
attention  to  its  large  and  beautiful  buildings;  and  as  rich 
London  merchants  came  to  reside,  they  built  houses  of  great 
size  and  elegance,  many  of  them  with  spacious  grounds  and 
large  gardens.  The  Province  house,  built  in  1679,  is  de- 
scribed as  having  "  a  palatial  doorway,  a  spacious  hall,  carved 
balustrades,  paneled  and  corniced  parlors,"  It  figures  in 
Hawthorne's  romance  and  became  afterwards  the  residence 
of  the  royal  governors.  The  Frankland  house,  described  by 
Cooper  in  one  of  his  stories,  had  great  richness  of  decoration. 
The  father  of  Samuel  Adams  was  not  one  of  the  "  merchant 
princes  "  of  the  day;  he  was  a  respectable  citizen,  living  com- 
fortably and  honorably ;  his  house  stood  in  a  spacious  garden, 


203 

looking  out  upon  the  harbor,  surrounded  by  an  observatory. 
We  have  but  few  elements  of  a  Puritan  city,  in  the  descrip- 
tion given  by  a  traveler  in  1740:  "For  their  domestic 
amusements,  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  walk  the  mall,  and 
from  thence  adjourn  to  each  other's  houses,  and  spend  the 
evening — those  that  are  not  disposed  to  attend  the  evening 
lecture,  which  they  may  do,  if  they  please,  six  nights  out  of 
the  seven,  the  year  around.  And  the  ladies  here  visit,  drink 
tea,  and  indulge  every  little  piece  of  gentility,  and  neglect 
the  affairs  of  their  families,  with  as  good  a  grace  as  the  finest 
ladies  in  London !  "  Copley's  pictures  show  us  something  of 
the  showy  dress  of  this  period.  Here  is  the  portrait  of  the 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince.  She  is  dressed  in  a  dark 
blue  velvet  robe,  with  muslin  undersleeves  reaching  below  the 
elbows.     Four  rows  of  pearl  beads  encircle  the  throat. 

In  1749  a  society  was  established  for  promoting  indus- 
try and  frugality,  and  the  fourth  anniversary  was  publicly 
celebrated.  In  the  afternoon,  about  300  young  spinsters 
appeared  on  the  common,  with  their  spinning  wheels,  draped 
in  garments  of  their  own  weaving.  An  immense  number  of 
spectators  were  present.  In  1766,  in  Franklin's  examination 
at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  respecting  the  state  of 
things  in  America,  "  What  used  to  be  the  pride  of  America  .■*  " 
was  asked  by  a  friendly  member.  "  To  indulge  in  the  fash- 
ions and  manufactures  of  Great  Britain,"  was  Franklin's 
reply.  "  What  is  now  their  pride  .''  "  "  To  wear  their  old 
clothes  over  again,  till  they  can  make  new  ones." 

A  fragment  of  a  poem,  by  Benjamin  Thompson,  who 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1662,  shows  that  women  "made 
pies  "  and  worked  samplers  in  those  days.  The  poem  is  on 
"  The  Fortification  of  Boston,  begun  by  women." 

"  A  grand  attempt  some  Amazonian  Dames 
Contrive,  whereby  to  glorify  their  names, 
A  ruff  from  Boston  Neck  of  mud  and  turf 
Reaching  from  side  to  side,  from  surf  to  surf, 
A  tribe  of  female  hands,  but  manly  hearts, 
Forsake  at  home  their  pastry  crust  and  tarts, 
To  knead  the  dust,  the  samplers  down  they  hurl, 
Their  undulating  silks  tliey  closely  furl." 


204 

We  have  few  notices  of  literary  women.  Mistress  Anne 
Bradstreet,  the  daughter  of  Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  wrote 
verses,  which  were  published  in  London  in  1650.  One  of 
her  titles  was,  "  An  Exact  Epitome  of  the  Four  Monarchies. 
The  Assyrian,  Persian,  Grecian,  Roman."  She  was  a  reader 
of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  Arcadia,  and  wrote  an  elegy  upon  it. 
Of  Mercy  Warren  (born  1725),  the  daughter  of  James  Otis, 
and  wife  of  James  Warren,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
settlers  at  Plymouth,  we  are  told  that  her  early  education 
was  greatly  aided  by  the  village  clergyman,  who  lent  her 
books  and  directed  her  tastes.  She  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  great  leaders  of  the  Revolution,  with  many  of  whom 
she  exchanged  frequent  letters.  In  one  of  her  poems,  she 
gives  a  long  list  of  articles,  imported,  not  of  real  necessity, 
which  women  could  relinquish.  We  find  that  the  ministers 
themselves  held  on  to  wigs  till  after  the  Revolution,  though 
such  good  men  as  Judge  Samuel  Sewall  battled  all  his  life 
against  them.  They  are  certainly  "becoming,"  as  we  see 
them  in  the  pictures  of  Mr.  Cotton,  Samuel  Willard,  and 
Cotton  Mather  and  many  others. 

Great  pomp  and  ceremony  attended  the  departure  of  the 
dead.  As  Palfrey  has  said  :  "  The  living  kept  before  themselves 
so  constantly  the  vision  of  a  Great  Judge  and  of  an  assize,  be- 
fore which  they  were  to  appear,  that  when  one  of  their  number 
set  out  for  the  court  above  they  attended  him,  as  far  as  they 
could  go,  with  the  circumstance  which  the  event  demanded." 
At  the  burial  of  Winthrop  it  was  thought  not  too  much  to 
spend  in  his  honor,  to  burn  a  barrel  and  a  half  of  powder. 
Sewall  records  at  the  burial  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard  the 
names  of  the  bearers,  and  adds  :  "  It  seems  there  were  some 
verses,  but  none  pinned  on  the  herse.  Scholars  went  before 
the  herse."  We  have  just  been  told  at  the  burial  of  the  poet 
Spenser  many  poets  dropped  verses  upon  the  coffin.  At  wed- 
dings, at  christenings,  and  at  funerals,  the  parson  and  his 
wife — at  funerals  the  bearers — also  received  presents  of  a  stip- 
ulated kind,  which  were  really  fees  and  were  faint  traditions 
of  earlier  English  customs.     In   1741  the  General  Court  en- 


205 

acted  that  no  scarves  or  gloves  except  six  pairs  to  the  bearers 
and  one  pair  to  each  member  of  the  church  or  congregation 
where  the  deceased  belongs,  wine,  rum,  or  rings,  shall  be 
given  at  any  funeral  upon  the  penalty  of  fifty  pounds.  At 
the  funeral  of  a  wicked  man,  Judge  Sewall  would  not  go,  and 
in  his  diary  says :  "  Had  gloves  sent  me,  but  staid  at  home, 
and  by  that  means  lost  a  ring."  Mr.  L.  M.  Sargent  tells  us 
of  Dr.  Andrew  Elliot,  whose  interleaved  almanac  discloses 
the  fact  that  in  thirty-two  years  he  appears  to  have  received 
2,900  pairs  of  gloves  at  funerals,  weddings,  and  baptisms.  Of 
these  he  sold  about  ^640  worth.  "  What  a  glove  and  ring 
market  the  doctor's  study  must  have  been;  it  might  be  truly 
said  he  was  hand  and  glove  with  his  parishioners." 

A  note  in  Sewall's  diary  is  in  regard  to  the  day  of  the  week 
which  should  be  Fast-day:  "The  governor  (1702)  moved  that 
it  be  Friday,  saying,  '  Let  us  be  Englishmen.'  I  spoke  against 
making  any  distinction  in  the  days  of  the  week ;  desired  the 
same  day  might  be  for  fasts  and  thanksgivings.  Boston 
and  Ipswich  lecture  led  us  to  Thursday.  Our  brethren  at 
Connecticut  had  Wednesday,  which  we  applauded." 

The  "  training  day"  was  a  great  day  of  amusement  and  relax- 
ation, and  we  are  glad  to  know  that  there  was  one  day  which 
interested  the  dignitaries  of  church  and  State,  and  gave  the 
small  boy  an  opportunity  to  follow  the  music  and  play  the 
soldier.  "Election  day"  was  signalized  not  only  by  military 
parade,  but  by  pastimes  and  festivities,  in  which  the  family 
took  part,  making  the  now  famous  "Election  Cake"  in  honor 
of  the  occasion.  We  do  not  need  to  picture  the  scenes  of 
Thanksgiving,  with  its  public  religious  service,  its  family 
reunions,  and  loaded  tables.  It  is  known  to  us,  not  merely 
by  tradition,  but  in  our  own  joyous  celebration.  The 
descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  from  far  and  near,  then  become 
themselves  pilgrims  to  their  early  home,  to  exchange  family 
greetings,  and  to  renew  the  associations  of  childhood. 

Of  the  music  of  all  these  years  there  is  little  to  be  said.  It 
is  painful  to  think  that  the  fathers  could  suppose  that  instru- 
mental   music  was    forbidden  by  such  a   text    as  Amos   5, 


206 

xxxiii,  "  I  will  not  hear  the  noise  of  thy  viols ; "  that  they 
could  ignore  such  commands  as  "  Praise  him  with  stringed 
instruments  and  organs."  We  must  remember  that  these 
men  were,  in  a  measure,  enthralled  by  the  ignorance  and 
superstition  of  the  age.  There  were  false  interpretations  of 
Scripture,  on  which  were  founded  great  wrongs  as  well  as 
follies. 

It  pleases  us  to  record  a  note  from  Winthrop's  Journal : 
"We  received  a  letter  at  the  General  Court,  from  the  magis- 
trates of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  wherein  they  declare 
their  dislike  of  such  as  would  have  the  Indian  rooted  out  as 
being  of  an  accursed  race,  and  their  desire  of  our  mutual 
accord."  We  have  in  our  State  to-day  the  remnants  of  the 
Mohegan  Indians,  and  they  are  our  friends  and  fellow- 
citizens. 

The  noble  and  gentle  founders  of  Connecticut  have  left  to 
us  a  heritage  of  peace,  of  order,  and  intelligence.  This 
State  has  been  distinguished  from  early  days,  by  its  town 
libraries.  In  a  neighboring  parish,  at  the  close  of  a  fifty 
years  pastorate,  the  Rev.  Joab  Brace  said:  "Reading  has 
always  been  a  great  entertainment  among  this  people. 
There  have  been  three  public  libraries,  containing  standard 
works  on  divinity,  history,  philosophy,  poetry,  travel,  enough 
to  give  any  attentive  reader  a  good  education."  A  recently 
elected  United  States  senator  from  this  State  could  say  that 
he  owed  the  education  which  fitted  him  for  public  life  to  the 
library  in  his  native  town. 

As  we  look  upon  the  portraits  of  our  immediate  ancestors, 
and  read  their  letters  and  contemplate  the  works  which  fol- 
low them,  we  find  much  to  honor  and  to  imitate.  The  wide- 
spreading  elms,  the  rich  leaved  maples  by  many  a  wayside 
and  dwelling,  speak  of  the  hands  that  planted  them  so 
lovingly  for  us  long  ago.  We  have  learned  from  them  to 
prize  home  life  with  its  family  affections  and  domestic  com- 
forts, and  have  been  taught  by  them  to  look  upward  to  the 
great  "  city  of  God,"  the  household  of  heaven,  and  to  make 
our  homes  on  earth  the  symbols  of  its  purity  and  peace. 


The  letters  which  are  given  below  are  a  few  of  the  many  received  in 
response  to  the  invitation  of  the  Church  to  be  present  at  its  celebration. 

Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  Sept.  17,  1883. 
My  Dear  Sir :  I  greatly  regret  that  it  is  entirely  out  of 
my  power  to  avail  myself  of  the  invitation  which  you  have 
been  good  enough  to  communicate  to  me  from  the  First 
Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford.  You  will,  I  trust,  convey  to 
the  committee  the  expression  of  my  appreciation  of  the 
honor,  and  the  interest  of  my  college  in  your  proceedings. 
It  is  a  matter  of  much  pride  and  gratification  to  the  present 
members  of  Emmanuel  College  to  realize  the  large  influence 
exercised  by  those  who  in  the  young  strength  of  the  college 
went  out  to  your  free  and  new  societies  ;  and  we  value 
highly  the  interest  thus  given  in  our  foundations  to  many  in 
America.  Since  the  first  days  the  prevalent  tone  of  relig- 
ious thought  within  our  walls  has  doubtless  gone  through 
many  changes  (Puritan  in  Chadeton's  time,  becoming  broad 
church  in  the  flourishing  time  of  Whitcote  and  his  fellow, 
and  then  high  church  under  Sancroft,  to  come  no  later  down), 
but  throughout  our  ecclesiastical  forms  have  remained  the 
same,  viz. :  those  of  our  English  established  Church.  Under 
those  we  are  still  mindful,  I  hope,  of  the  spirit  of  religious 
liberty  underlying  our  foundation  ;  and  are  earnest  sympa- 
thizers wdth  all  seekers  after  truth  in  whatever  associations. 
This  sympathy  has  a  special  character,  I  need  hardly  assure 
you,  for  the  work  of  an  organization  which  owes  its  origin 
to  two  of  the  early  graduates  of  Emmanuel ;  and  I  greatly 
wish  that  I  were  able  to  give  evidence  of  this  by  accepting 
your  invitation.  As  my  duties  here  make  this  impossible  to 
me,  I  can  only  express  my  sincere  acknowledgments  for  the 


2o8 

honor  done  me  and  my  cordial  interest  in  your  approaching 
anniversary. 

I  am,  my  dear  sir,  very  faithfully  yours, 

George  Phear, 
Master  of  Emmanuel  College. 


Airedale  College,  Bradford,  Sept.  25,  1883. 

My  Dear  Sir :  It  would  have  been  to  me  a  singular 
pleasure,  not  only  as  Chairman  of  the  Congregational  Union 
of  England  and  Wales,  but  as  a  Christian  man  and  a  Congre- 
gationalist,  to  have  been  present  at  your  250th  anniversary. 
And  I  am  present  at  it ;  my  heart  and  spirit  are  with 
you.  I  stretch  the  invisible  hand  of  brotherhood  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  in  the  name  of  all  our  churches  in  the  mother 
country,  I  wish  you  joy  and  the  blessing  of  the  Gracious 
Father  on  you  and  your  celebration.  We  owe  you  much. 
At  a  time  when  Presbyters  threatened  the  nascent  life  of 
Independency  the  "Survey"  of  your  first  pastor  helped  to 
ward  off  the  blow,  and  so  to  prevent  "new  Presbyter"  from 
being  "old  Priest  writ  large."  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  the  order  and  discipline  achieved  under  so  trying  cir- 
cumstances of  the  Congregational  Churches  in  America 
showed  the  English  Puritans  that  Independency  was  the 
most  excellent  way.  And  we  have  ever  looked  with  pride 
to  the  manner  in  which  your  churches  have  served  your 
country,  contributing  so  many  of  the  men,  so  much  of  the 
wisdom,  heroism,  and  statesmanship  to  which  it  owes  its 
greatness  and  its  freedom. 

Allow  me  then,  though  unseen,  not  to  be  unremembered 
on  an  occasion  so  full  of  interest,  of  joy ;  but  in  the  name 
of  all  the  sister  Churches  here  to  wish  you  again  and  still 
again  "God-speed." 

Ever  faithfully  yours,  A.  M.   Fairbairn. 


Clewer  House,  Windsor,  Eng.,  Sept.  22,  1883. 
My  Dear   Sir  :    I   feel  greatly  honored   by  the   invitation 
you  have  so  kindly  sent  me,  to  attend   the   Hartford  com- 


209 

memoration  next  month.  It  brings  back  to  me  memories 
of  worthy  men,  with  whom  history  has  made  me  in  some 
measure  famihar ;  and  how  pleased  I  should  be  to  mingle  in 
your  congregation,  your  thanksgivings,  and  your  enjoyments 
on  the  approaching  occasion.  But  my  engagements  at  home, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  journey  at  my  time  of  life,  render  it 
impossible  for  me  to  do  what  I  could  wish. 

Your  Church  holds  a  peculiar  position  in  New  England, 
and,  as  a  mother,  can  look  with  joy  upon  her  children.  The 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  have  indeed  been  made 
glad  by  her,  and  trees  of  the  Lord's  right  hand  planting 
flourish  around  what,  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  was  but 
an  oasis  in  the  midst  of  a  spiritual  desert.  You  will  have 
much  to  say  of  Hooker  and  Stone,  and  the  shades  of  other 
holy  men  will  pass  before  your  deeply  interested  assembly. 
May  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  be  present  to  crown  the 
gathering  with  His  benediction;  and  may  "the  fourteenth 
pastor  of  Hartford"  be  long  spared  to  carry  on  noble  work 
in  the  transatlantic  Christendom.  Accept  my  most  affec- 
tionate greetings,  in  which,  I  am  sure,  the  Congregational 
Churches  of  England  and  Wales  do  fully  concur. 

You  intimate  your  intention  to  publish  a  history  of  the 
Hartford  Church,  which  I  look  forward  to  with  gratification. 
I  hope  I  may  be  spared  to  read  it. 

With  sincere  fraternal  regards,  I  remain,  my  dear  Mr. 
Walker,  your  sincere  friend  and  brother  in  Christ. 

John  Stoughton. 
New  College,  London. 


The  City  Temple,  Holborn  Viaduct, 

London,  E.  C,  Sept.  19,  1883. 
Rev.  Dr.   Walker: 

My  Dear  Sir  :  We  cannot  be  with  you  personally  on  Octo- 
ber nth  and  12th,  but  we  will  not  be  far  off  sympathetically 
and  devotionally.     My  own  church  is  about  the  same  age  as 
yours,  and  has  never  moved  out  of  the  city  of  London.     I 
27 


2IO 

am  sure  I  speak  for  my  Church  when  I  desire  your  accept- 
ance of  our  warmest  congratulations  on  the  celebration  of 
your  250th  anniversary.  The  evangelical  churches  of  the 
world  belong  to  one  another ;  in  doctrine  they  constitute  one 
church,  and  in  fellowship  they  represent  one  life.  Though 
our  geographical  separation  is  so  wide,  yet  in  our  spiritual 
nearness  there  is  "no  more  sea."  Accept  fraternal  saluta- 
tions, and  with  many  a  "  God-bless-you,"  believe  me. 

Ever  cordially  yours,  Joseph  Parker. 


TiLTON  Vicarage,  Liecester,  Oct.  2,  1883. 

Dear  Sir :  I  have  purposely  delayed,  in  replying  to  your 
kind  invitation,  that  my  letter  regretting  my  inability  to 
avail  myself  of  it,  might  arrive  about  the  time  of  your  meet- 
ing on  the  nth  inst.  Although  steam  has  bridged  the  vast 
distance  between  us,  it  is  not  easy  for  the  Incumbent  of  a 
Parish  to  get  away  even  for  the  short  visit  you  propose. 
My  best  wishes  and  desires  are  for  all,  who,  maintaining  the 
grand  principles  of  the  Christian  faith,  are  seeking  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  Christ  crucified,  and  while  conveying  my 
best  thanks  to  the  committee  for  the  honor  they  have  done 
me,  assure  them  also  that  I  wish  God  speed  to  both  the 
Shepherd  and  the  flock,  believing  that  though  not  of  us,  yet 
you  are  not  against  us,  that  when  the  mists  of  earth  are 
removed,  the  vivid  comprehension  then  obtained  may  reveal 
a  nearer  and  closer  relationship. 

You  are  kind  enough  to  recognize  the  little  service  I  was 
enabled  to  render  you  on  your  visit  to  this  Parish.  I  can 
assure  you,  you  are  most  welcome  to  it,  and  any  future  help 
you  may  have  occasion  to  require. 

Faithfully  Yours,  William  Chippindale,  Vicar. 
The  Rev.  G.  L.  Walker, 

Pastor  First  Church. 


211 

To  the  First  CJuircJi  of  Christ  in  Ha^'tford,  the  Eliot  Church 
in  Neivton,  sendeth  Greetings  : 

The  Eliot  Church  of  Newton  has  heard  with  pleasure 
your  intention  to  commemorate  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  your  church  and  the  Settle- 
ment of  your  city.  We  can  but  call  to  mind  that  the 
founder  of  your  church  and  his  whole  congregation  went 
out  from  us  in  the  early  summer  of  1636,  through  a  trackless 
wilderness,  following  their  compass  until  they  reached  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut,  and  there  with  prayer  and  renewed 
consecration,  set  up  a  church  to  the  living  God. 

The  record  is,  that  the  Reverend  Thomas  Hooker  and  his 
congregation  remained  within  the  borders  of  the  town  of 
Newtown,  for  some  two  years  or  more,  when  the  township 
being  too  narrow  for  them  and  their  Christian  work,  they  were 
impelled  to  seek  a  broader  field.  We  have  always  heard  that 
the  same  desire  for  the  largest  and  most  extended  Christian 
influence  has  ever  continued  with  the  church  they  founded. 

Our  city  has  inherited  the  name  and  constitutes  a  portion 
of  the  original  town  which  they  left  for  their  wilderness 
home.  We  have  also  with  us  some  who  are  lineal  descend- 
ants of  your  founders,  and  others  who  were  baptized  chil- 
dren, and  some  who  were  formerly  members  of  your  church 
in  Hartford,  and  our  church  bears  the  name  of  John  Eliot, 
who  was  converted  and  consecrated  himself  to  the  Christian 
ministry  in  the  family  of  Thomas  Hooker  in  England,  and 
afterwards  became  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians  where  we  now 
live.  We  have  therefore  an  interest  in  commemorating  the 
lives,  the  sacrifices,  and  the  virtues  of  that  devoted  band  and 
their  heroic  leader. 

In  extending  our  congratulations  for  the  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  your  church  life  and  church  work,  it  is  our 
earnest  prayer  that  the  same  spirit  which  characterized  the 
founders  may  ever  continue  with  you,  their  descendants. 

The  ties  of  Christian  fellowship  between  them  and  those 
they  left  were  not  forgotten,  nor  can  we  forget  that  in  giving 
to  you  the  founder  of  your  church,  you  in  turn   have  given 


212 

to  US  a  pastor  who  has  inherited  the  piety,  the  wisdom,  and 
the  zeal  of  the  godly  Hooker. 

Wishing  you  Grace,  Mercy,  and  Peace,  we  are  yours  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Eliot  Church, 
By  W.  O.  Trowbridge,  its  Clerk. 

Eliot  Church,  Newton,  Massachusetts,  Oct.  5,  1883. 
At  a  church  meeting  held  this  evening,  wherein  was  con- 
sidered the  going  out  of  the  Reverend  Thomas  Hooker  and 
his  congregation  from  Newtown  in  1633,  and  the  commem- 
oration of  that  event  by  the  First  Church  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
during  the  coming  week,  it  was  unanimously  voted,  that  the 
foregoing  letter  be  sent  to  the  church  in  Hartford,  and  that 
our  pastor,  the  Rev.  Wolcott  Calkins,  D.D.,  be  the  bearer 
thereof  to  said  church. 

The  Eliot  Church, 
By  W.  O.  Trowbridge,  Clerk. 


The  First  Church  in  Cambridge,    \ 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  Oct.   10,  1883.  \ 

Rev.  George   L.   Walker,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  First  ChurcJi    of 
Christ  in  Hartford: 

Dear  Sir  :  At  the  request  of  the  officers  of  this  church,  I 
sent  to  you  yesterday  by  mail  a  small  volume  of  letters  upon 
the  his*^ory  of  our  organization,  written  by  Rev.  Dr.  McKen- 
zie. 

It  was  thought  that  the  book  would  possess  some  interest 
for  the  Thomas  Hooker  church,  and  might  appropriately  be 
presented  to  them  by  the  successors  of  the  Thomas  Shep- 
ard  company  at  this  time,  when  your  anniversary  naturally 
directs  attention  somewhat  to  our  own  early  history. 

Asking  your  acceptance  thereof  as  a  token  of  our  interest 
in  the  occasion,  I  remain,  in  behalf  of  the  church,  very 
respectfully  and  sincerely  yours, 

T.  B.  GiLMAN,  Clerk. 


213 

io6  Marlborough  St.,  Boston,  Oct.  8,  1883. 
To  the  Rev.  George  Leon  Walker,  D.D.,  Minister  of  First 
Church,  Hartford,  Conn. : 
My  Dear  Friend :  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be 
with  you  and  yours  on  the  250th  anniversary,  Wilson  and 
Cotton  (Wilson  especially)  are  very  real  and  very  dear  to  me, 
and  through  them  I  am  strongly  drawn  to  your  congregation, 
no  longer  in  the  wilderness,  nor  to  be  reached  only  by  long 
and  painful  journeys.  In  visits  which  I  have  made  to  Eng- 
land from  time  to  time  nothing  has  interested  me  more 
than  the  endeavor  to  place  the  founders  and  fathers  of  our 
New  England  churches  in  their  old  homes,  sacred  and  secular, 
as  in  Boston,  Groton,  Sudbury,  and  Oakham,  and  Eppingham 
in  Rutland.  Those  men  were  noble  specimens  of  a  noble 
race,  to  be  held  in  great  honor  for  what  they  were  willing  to 
leave  behind,  and  for  the  faith,  hope,  and,  spite  of  what 
detractors  may  say,  charity  which  they  brought  with  them. 
If  only  their  children  could  have  remained  in  these  north- 
eastern States  what  communities  they  would  be  to-day  ! — not 
so  populous,  not  so  luxurious,  but  with  far  more  promise  of  a 
near  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  than  can  ever  come  from  our 
huge  cities  and  villages  with  so  little  leaven  and  such  a  vast 
lump  to  be  leavened.  But  even  the  remnant  which  clings  to 
New  England  will  poorly  represent  a  brave  ancestry  if  we 
for  a  moment  forget  that  our  problems,  hard  as  they  may  be, 
are  not  so  hard  as  theirs.  Let  me  send  heartiest  greetings 
for  and  from  the  old  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Boston  to  the 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford.  We  sincerely  prize  our 
old  name  and  our  old  covenant.  We  hold  ourselves  to  be 
Congregationalists,  pure  and  simple,  broad  if  you  will,  and 
with  only  our  Christian  covenant  for  a  creed,  but  still  striv- 
ing to  build  upon  the  one  Foundation  which  God  has  laid. 
May  your  gathering  be  altogether  pleasant  and  helpful,  and 
may  the  candle  of  the  Lord  burn  and  shine  and  brighten 
more  and  more  in  your  Christian  household. 

Cordially  yours, 

RuFUS  Ellis,  First  Church. 


214 

Boston,  Oct.  lo,  1883. 

My  Dear  Dr.  Walker :  I  have  waited  until  the  last  moment 
to  see  if  any  unforeseen  event  might  seem  to  relieve  me  from 
the  duty  of  attending  the  sessions  of  the  National  Council,  and 
so  release  me  to  the  great  pleasure  of  being  with  you  at 
Hartford.  But  I  find  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  so  I  am  com- 
pelled most  reluctantly  to  miss  an  occasion  to  which  I  had 
looked  forward  with  eager  expectation.  I  am  afraid  I  am  a 
little  out  of  perfect  charity  with  Thomas  Hooker  in  his  selec- 
tion of  his  church  date,  or  with  some  more  modern  divine 
in  his  selection  of  the  date  for  the  National  Council  in  its 
fifth  session. 

I  pray  God  to  smile  upon  your  gathering ;  to  give  you  a 
profound  insight  into  the  obscure  facts  which  have  so  long 
left  the  early  years  of  your  noble  church  in  shadowed 
obscurity;  to  bless  your  celebration  to  the  best  uses  of  our 
sacred  New  England  history  ;  and  to  make  it  an  occasion  of 
newly  kindling  the  fires  of  a  gracious  and  saintly  orthodoxy; 
besides  filling  it  full  en  passant  of  joy  and  peace  to  you  and 
all  your  co-celebrants.  I  shall  wait  with  unusual  eagerness 
for  the  memorial  volume  which  shall  enshrine  fitly  all  the 
res  gestcB  of  the  season.     With  much  affection,  faithfully, 

Henry  M.  Dexter. 
Dr.  George  Leon  Walker. 


Andover,  Mass.,  Oct.  9,  1883. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Thompson  :  It  would  have  afforded  me  great 
pleasure  to  attend  the  exercises  at  Hartford  this  week,  but 
the  privilege  is  denied  me.  From  my  earliest  recollection  I 
have  been  acquainted  with  representatives  of  the  First 
Church,  whose  anniversary  is  to  be  celebrated  on  Thursday 
and  Friday  next.  I  was  baptized  by  a  pastor  who  had  been 
a  theological  pupil  of  Dr.  Strong,  and  was  fond  of  saying  that 
"  Nathan  Strong  had  a  greater  mind  than  any  other  minister 
in  the  United  States."  More  than  sixty  years  ago  when 
Joel  Hawes  preached  before  the  students  of  Brown  Univer- 
sity, one  of  the  students  walking  home  from  church  said,  in 


215 

my  hearing,  to  one  of  the  professors :  "  I  would  spend  ten 
years  at  Andover,  if  I  could  become  as  great  a  preacher  as 
Mr.  Hawes."  The  professor  replied:  "It  was  something 
more  than  Andover  which  made  Mr.  Hawes  a  great 
preacher."  The  professor  claimed  part  of  the  honor  for 
Brown  University,  which  had  a  special  pride  in  so  promising 
a  young  graduate.  It  is  difficult  for  men  of  the  present  day 
to  imagine  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  sermons  of  Mr. 
Hawes  were  received  by  the  students  of  Providence  College 
between  the  years  1818  and  1822.  His  name  was  associated 
not  only  with  Nathan  Strong  but  also  with  Thomas  Hooker. 
I  am  sadly  disappointed  in  not  being  able  to  attend  the  exer- 
cises at  Hartford  this  week,  as  I  desire  very  much  to  learn 
more  than  I  know  at  present  in  regard  to  Thomas  Hooker 
and  Richard  Edwards,  from  both  of  whom  my  children  have 
descended,  and  to  both  of  whom  the  Hartford  church  is  sig- 
nally indebted.  With  much  regard,  I  remain,  Dear  Sir, 
Your  friend  and  servant, 

Edwards  A.  Park. 


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